Baby Bats
by Whovian-011
Summary: When Bruce Wayne watches John and Mary Grayson plummet to their deaths, he isn't faced with one child, he gets two!OC Alexandra Grayson makes things way more lively in Wayne Manor. Things will never be the same for Bruce Wayne.A small child with a big secret. However, can the infamous Batman take a hint?He'll have to if he wants to save her life.Warning: I don't spare any details
1. Fallen Parents

**Megs: This was a story idea I had a while OC Alexandra Mary Grayson, better known as Alex, is Robin's twin sister. I don't want to keep you here. Read. Review. Favorite. Subscribe.**

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><p><strong>~Baby Bats Chapter One: The Unexpected ~Mary Grayson's POV (the mother)~<strong>

"Mamica, Alex took the aparatul foto**[1]**." Dick whined, his seven and a half year old body tightening its hold on his mom's leg.

"Alexandra, that's not nice, give him back the ca-mer-a." I said, enunciating the English word for their memory. Then she went back to training with her husband for their next performance in Gotham, which would be the next morning. From her view, everything would be fine, even Alex gave Dick back the camera, and she would usually just run away with it. So what was the problem today?

I think it was Mr. Zucco... She told me that he just made her want to run to the nearest safe haven when she caught a glimpse of him. He was a monster and anyone could see that. Alex stopped her pull-ups for a second. What if Mr. Zucco comes here? Monsters around my children? Never, not in a million years, I would die before that ever happened. Then, both of my kids flipped over to me, doing things on the border of Olympic-Style.

"Hey mom, where's dad? We wanna make a video." They chorused together, their blue eyes, which put the ocean and sky to shame, stared up at her. I had no other choice, but to comply.

"All right," I said pulling both of them close. "John!" I yelled, smiling unexpectingly at the sight of him.

"Mary is something wrong?" He asked, looking over towards me to make sure I was ok.

"No, Dick and Alex want to video a practice. Do you mind?" Never wanting to disappoint, John was already climbing the ladder and I followed suit. While at the top, you could everything, even the two little kids watching, waiting for the "show" to begin.

"Baby birds, are you coming or what?" John said. They turned on the camera, made sure it was recording and ran up.

**~Dick Grayson's POV~**

"Mommy, we're flying!" I squealed, loving the rush of wind and air all around them. Alex and I left the camera making sure it would record everything. After a whole lot of flips and tricks, Alex was on Mom's side and Dad was on my side.

"Tomorrow we have to do one of our hardest tricks, remember?" Mom said.

"Yeah, Mamica will take my hand and Taticul will take Alex's hand when you both jump." I said proudly. Then Mr. Haley came in, walking towards the ladder.

"Grayson's, I need your assistance." He said. Mom and Dad were down quickly. Alex and I soon came down and Alex grabbed the camera. She kept it on and we followed mom and dad quietly until they went inside the big top. There was a man inside and he looked… scary. I opened my mouth to call mom back, but Alex pinched me on the arm.

"Ow!" I said, rubbing the tender spot. I glared at her.

"Ce facem**[2]**?" I said, after I stopped glaring at her.

"Avem nevoie pentru a ascunde**[3]**." She said after deliberation. We ran to one of the benches and hid behind it.

"If you think you can say no to me, you're wrong!" The man in black said. He looked so scary. What if he hurts mom? Then he started talking fast. I did not understand a thing.

"Ce**[4]**?" I asked Alex. She shushed me.

"English only, they'll hear the difference and find us… They want money, and… they will get it anyway they can. This is their last warning." The men left, and everything was quiet.

"What do we do, now?" I asked Alex. She did not answer, so I pushed her. "Talk to me."

"I don't see mom or dad anymore, because you-she poked my forehead- distracted me." Then we heard a familiar sound behind us.

"Well first both of you can tell me why you're hiding there." A voice said. We had been found. We both stood up, bowing our heads slightly.

"Sorry, Mamica, we just wanted to know what was going on. He was really… loud." Alex winced, rubbing her temples hard. Then she took some pills the doctor gave her. Alex has some brain disease called…. Hyperthymestic disorder. She can remember everything she has ever seen, heard, smelled, read… anything. The doctor said that one painful memory could give her a long-term coma, depending on how long she goes without the pills. Mom put her hands on Alex's shoulders, ready to bring her to sleep.

"I'm going to be fine mom, but I won't be if something happens to you," she said, walking to our trailer while we trailed her. She was holding the camera, letting it swing when she turned back to look at us.

"I read a book about that; human behavior depends on your reaction to things around you and he reacted badly." She said, using her brain and high IQ to do the talking for her. "Be careful if you ever see him again."

"Alright, let's just go to sleep." Mom said. The night was filled with mom's lullabies. In the morning, we woke up to our mother's loving voice.

"It's time to get changed, copil**[5]**." Mamica said, walking outside of the trailer.

"Mmhmm." Alex said, turning back into bed. I just put on my leotard, and dragged Alex to her clothes. She changed out of spite. Then she screamed a glass-breaking scream that actually punctured the mirror that Mom uses for makeup. Alex slumped to her knees and started staring.

"What happened, what happened?" I asked, running over to her and sitting down.

"He's back, that guy from yesterday. He's right there!" she said, then she grabbed her necklace, the one mom gave her.

"What should we do? "I asked.

"We follow." she said, her attitude changing again. Fear forgotten, we watched them go in the big tent. We went in and saw them pouring liquid on the ropes. Alex took pictures, and they smiled the whole time.

"Alexandra, Richard the show starts soon!" Mom called from behind us. She could not see what they were doing. We ran to her, not sure what to say.

"Copils, I want you each to have something." She gave us wedding bands: I got dads and Alex got moms.

"How come? We're not married!" I said, giggling.

"Me and your dad wore these the first time we preformed together engaged, and now you'll wear them on your first performance together," she said, giving us a big hug. I realized that Alex and Mom were mirror images. Same long black hair, blue eyes, cheek and bone structure… like a mini-mom.

"Let's go! The show's starting!" I said. We heard Mr. Haley saying words like "Bruce Wayne" and "Billionaire".

"And for the first time ever, as a complete set, the whole family… The Flying Grayson's! And their two 7 ½ year old children, Alex and Richard." There was a lot of applause and cheer. I have never felt better. Mom and Dad started flying, as usual, I briefly noticed the bad man leaving through the back door. Mom and Dad had grabbed the two bars on top, ready to take our hands when-crick-they-crack- FELL-**SNAP.**

Mom and Dad fell of the tightrope... and they didn't wake up.

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><p><strong>Mary Grayson: How can we be dead after one chapter?<strong>

**Me: Sorry. That's just how it is.**

**Mary Grayson: But my kids are all alone!**

**Me: Well... I bring you back as a dream. Good with you?**

**Mary Grayson: * shrugged* As long as i see them again.**

**Here are the translations for the words.**

**[1]- Camera**

**[2]- What do we do?**

**[3]- We need to hide.**

**[4]- What?**

**[5]- Child**


	2. Jailed:Part 1

"Mamica!" I screeched, quickly getting off of the ladder and running to her. Her bones were wrong. Every single one of them. She looked like her insides imploded and stayed inside. Dad looked just like her, mirrored faces of pain and anguish. I knelt beside them, and once I did the tears started to flow.

"Va rugam sa trezesti la." I said, until Dick came behind me. I looked at him and pulled him close. He started whispering for me to look away, that something like this could really set me off. I didn't listen to him, I kept looking at my mom and dad. How easily we had lost them.

Then the police came, and started to cover them up. I didn't speak just held on to my big brother. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to say but It wouldn't be anything good. After a while one of the men tried to pick me up, almost tearing me away from my brother.

"Dă-mi drumul! Stai departe demine!" I yelled,wrestling out of the policeman's hold and putting myself in the same position I was in before with Dick. No one bothered us for a few minutes, but then a man in a suit sank to one knee in front of us. We both turned to look at me, and I held my brothers hand.

"My name is Bruce Wayne. I wanted to let you know that you guys have to go somewhere to live now because... For now, I'm not allowed. They said they'll bring you somewhere safe,okay?" He said, then stopped to make sure we understood exactly what he was saying. After we nodded, he continued.

"I don't exactly know what will happen next but I'm sure you'll be okay if you stay together. You ready?" He said, standing up. He put a hand out, obviously expecting one of us to take it. I picked Dick up and walked away from Bruce towards the policeman from before. I tugged on his jacket, lightly. When he turned to look at me, I quickly uttered a sentence.

"I'm really sorry for hitting you." I said, looking up at him. His face softened when he looked at me. I put it the fact that there was blood on my face because I tried to wipe the tears from my eyes and put the blood on my hands there. Me and my brother went inside the cop car and stayed quiet.

Then, the sirens started and we drove away from the place my parents died. We also drove away from Bruce, and for some reason I didn't want to leave his side. I could tell from Dick's expression that he shared the thought. Why did we both feel that way? I don't even want to know. But as we approached the building, which looked predominately scary, all thoughts of Bruce left.

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><p><strong>Bruce's POV<strong>

I walked inside the manor, briskly, still not understanding my actions for the actions. There parents had died and I didn't know what to do. I should have just forced Gordon to let me bring them home.

Now what? Where will they go? Wherever they go, this is Gotham. They most likely aren't able to handle anything that happens here, Bruce thought, while pacing holes into the then came in, wondering exactly put him on edge.

" Master Bruce, would you please tell me what is on your mind?" Alfred asked,trying to pursue the matter.

"I made an appearance today at a circus, but during the performance, two acrobats fell. They had two kids, a boy and a girl. They saw them both fall." He said, quietly. Then he sat down on the couch, putting one leg over the other. Alfred went to sit next to him.

"May I suggest adopting them?" Alfred said, looking to Bruce.

"I never applied for that status." Bruce replied.

"May I suggest applying?" Alfred said back.

"That kind of process takes a long time."

"Every time you forget you're Batman,I feel like hitting you in the head, Master Bruce." Alfred said, getting up and going into the kitchen. I cocked an eyebrow, looking over at his retreating figure.

"I also suggest you fix your face, Master Bruce" Alfred said, not even looking at me. I took that chance to go to the cave, and fix some records.

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><p><strong>Alex's POV<strong>

He lied. That stupid heartless piece of crap lied to us. How is the world is a juvenile detention center safe? Someone needed to check their priorities and look at this looked like hell. A red fiery hell on the earth.

Every second someone was getting their face punched in or throwing food. I instantly reached out my had and Dick took it. Then, we both looked for a place to sit in this overflowing cafeteria and looked for a place to sit. We settled on the back wall, a place where some of the people avoided going to.

"What now?" Dick asked, looking to me as his black bang sashayed across his face.

"I really don't know. For now, we live for mom and dad. That's the best thing we can do for them." I replied, not even bothering to brighten the mood. After sitting for a while, a group of guys came up to us.

We had already taken a shower, but as a reminder of the day I left some of the blood on my cheek. I would probably wash it off before going to bed. They looked at us, as if expecting something.

"You kids... move along." The leader said. He was a slim but most likely strong guy. I gripped Dick's arm tightly, begging him to sit and be quiet. We were definitely not moving.

"Are you deaf or something? Get the hell out of my territory." He said, trying to threaten me. Nothing could threaten me, not after what I saw today.

"I'm not deaf! I'm not moving. Just... find some new territory or something." I said, looking up at him. Some of the people were taken aback by the way I looked, but the leader was only angry about how I had disrespected him.

"Listen, you brat! I'm in here because I stabbed three people. Three! If you think that's going to scare me, you've got the wrong guy." He said, almost grinning.

"Today my parents died right in front of me. We are probably going to be in the news. I don't even care about that. But after today, nothing you say will make me do anything. And since they are dead, I've got nothing to lose If I kill you." I said quietly, not even wasting my time to look up. After a minute I looked up, they were gone.

"I can't believe you did that." Dick said finally, starting to smile.

"I know. I'm in for it now. Come on, let's go get some sleep." I said, getting up. We walked through the hallways, finding the room we would be living in. It was small, but still livable. We both got into our cots and make ourselves sleep.

My dreams weren't filled with nightmares.

Just the worst type of dream I've ever had.

Darkness.

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><p>Sooo... that was Day One of the four part of this arc; Jailed. This chapter was pretty late, I will admit that. But it's only because I wanted it to actually make some sense. At first, it was all jumbled and Bruce sounded like a complete asshole. But I fixed him. Hope you like it. . Subscribe...<p>

And Eat Good Chicken!...Unless your a vegan, then... get that good tofu.

**[1]****- Wake up, please**

**[2]-Let go of me! Stay away from me!**


	3. Jailed:Part 2

Alex's POV

I woke up the next morning, drenched in sweat. It felt like a never ending free-fall into darkness. I needed my medication, where was it? I went to Dick's bed and shook him. He turned over, blinking slowly and becoming alert when he saw my face.

"What happened, Alex? Your eyes are red." He said, moving in to make sure what he was seeing was real.

"I didn't have my medication, since mom isn't...here. I need you to help me look for something to substitute." I said quickly and started moving towards the door. Once I opened it, I was pushed back into the back wall. Mr brother shot out of bed but ended up in the same place I was, thrown back by a mysterious figure. Focus...It's that guy from yesterday, that blonde guy. He looked angry, probably from yesterday. When you looked closer, his eyes were red from crying.

"WHY! Why did you have to tell me anything? You should have just left me alone!" He screeched, punching the wall. He wasn't mad, he was depressed.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly, seeing if that would calm him down. He eyes went wide and he went up to me. He... sank to his knees and hugged me.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. It's my fault. Those damned doctors wouldn't give me any Lithium so I get a little crazy." He said, still hugging me. I got up, pushing him away.

"What's your name?" I asked, looking at him. His eyes... were just like mine. Damn it. I thought I could get out of these without felling bad for these people.

"Micheal." He said back. He stood, staying two feet away from me. My brother, who had been just watching said nothing.

"We are gonna get ourselves some medication. Now. You tell me how to get there and I'll handle everything else." I said, sure that with my eyes like this I could get something.

"I'll go to. I don't want to leave you alone." Dick said, walking to my side. He looked mad for a moment but when he saw Mike's eyes and how they looked like mine except his eyes were brown, he let it go.

"Alright then. Micheal, lead the way." I said, as we all walked out.

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><p>Bruce's POV<p>

"They're where!" I said, yelling into the phone. There was a slight pause and Gordon came back to the phone.

"It seems that those two Grayson kids were put in Juvie instead of Foster Care." He said, calmly.

"Why? That place is nowhere near safe for two 7 year old kids!" I said, wishing I could choke him through the phone. In the back of my mind I could tell Gordon was disgusted by it too, but I couldn't hear it.

"I know that, but right now there's nothing I can do." He said, sighing through the phone.

"I'll adopt them. That a better choice, right?" I heard him inhale sharply at my words.

"Bruce, I don't know. I'm sure it can be done but do you think you could handle it?" He said.

"Who else would be able to understand where they are at right now? If you can find any foster parent in Gotham who watched their parents die, that's the only other choice." I said, hoping he got the message.

"I know some people in ACS, the earliest date they can get for you is two days. Can you wait that long?" He said.

"Yeah, Sure. Two days." I said, while hanging up. I checked my watch, I had to go to the watchtower.

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><p>Alex's POV<p>

"This is the med room? It's huge." I said, walking down the first aisle, which held pain medication. The nurse was otherwise held up dealing with my brother and his 'stomach pain', a wonderful actor that guy is. We finally found the Lithium and I made sure to give him only two pills.

"How come I only get two?" He said, starting to get angry.

"If we take a bottle they'll know you took it. We have to be safe." I said, hoping he'd take the excuse. In actuality, I just wanted to make sure he really needed it. I kept looking through the different names and found one that had the same ingredients as the one I used since I can remember(which is since I was 3). Clopazine... that's what it was called. I took the whole bottle and put it behind my back.

"Let's get out of here." I said, and we went through the back door. Why didn't we just do that in the first place. I'll just have to remember that. Dick was behind us and we all went into our respective rooms. I didn't see exactly where he went but i was sure that he took 13 steps and turned left. Memory disease, remember? Well, the day wasn't over yet. I took the two pills and Dick was getting reckless.

"Let's go to the cafeteria!" He said, walking back out. I followed and we went in. We started walking around around when someone called our name.

"Alexandra and Richard Grayson!" The large woman yelled, then she started to walk out. I had stolen a bag and put my pills inside. We both ran out following the woman. She sat us down in a room and looked seriously at us.

"Both of you are extremely lucky at the moment. Bruce Wayne, the billionaire wants to adopt you. That chance is something you cannot pass up. And the less kids here, the less work I have to do. Now there will be an interview tomorrow to see how you guys interact. Then the next day you'll out whether you can stay at his house or not." She gave us each a bag.

"These are the clothes you'll wear tomorrow." She said,walking towards the door.

"Don't ruin this for me. If he doesn't take you I might not get that promotion. Don't ruin it." She walked out without another word. We sat there for a moment, not saying a word.

"Fine, let's get adopted by the devil. But before we go, let's steal a bottle of lithium for Mike." I said, and we both left the room. I went on my own to the med room and got the Lithium. I stayed by my room and saw Mike pass by.

"Mike!" I yelled, catching his attention. He walked over to me and I passed the bottle to him.

"I never gave anything to you, and you never got anything from me." I said. He smiled at me, gave me a hug and left. I went into my room. It was almost dark outside, probably 5:00 when we took a nap. We both woke up at 8:00 to our door slamming. I looked up and saw a big, looming figure in front of my bed. The figure lifted me up and threw me against the wall. In that brief flash of light, I had analyzed exactly what the person looked like. 5'4, Caucasian, not actually but looked real scary.

"Heard you was already getting adopted. By a billionaire?" He said, then kicked me in the stomach. I couldn't breath and fell on my stomach. He turned around, going over to Dick. I reached out for his left leg and pulled it. He fell and hit his head on a post. Even after that, he got back up and grabbed both of my arms... tight. He picked me up and threw me back down. Everything was getting blurry and I could hear myself screaming"Get away from me" over and over for at least 10 minutes until I fell asleep.

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><p>Watchtower<p>

That couldn't be Batman. No way in hell could that be Batman. He wasn't doing anything, he was just...sleeping with his cowl on. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash inched themselves towards Batman while the rest stayed a little bit away.

"Batman?" Superman said nervously. No response. They stayed quiet for a while.

"You guys are so slow!" Flash stepped next to Batman and put his hand on the table. Based on Instinct, Batman woke up grabbed Flash's arm and twisted it.

"You're awake!" Flash said in a congratulatory voice.

"And?" Batman asked looking at him. "What do you want, Flash?" He asked while putting some of his stuff together.

"What's wrong?" Flash asked , acting almost serious for a change. Some people thought it wasn't possible for Flash. Bats and Flashes had an interesting relationship, they could figure each other out real easy.

"None of you business. Don't you all have something better to do other than watching a person sleep?" He said to the mass of people who were there. They left in a matter of seconds.

"Your lying, but I won't push it. Tell me about it later." Flash said, turning around. Batman picked up a Gotham newspaper and gave it to him. Flash eyed the first page seeing "Grayson Children Left alone after tragic circus accident"

"What are you going to do?" Flash asked in a hushed tone. Batman shrugged in response.

" No Idea." Batman replied, emphasizing his words.

"If you care, keep them safe." Flash said, leaving the room. Batman wasn't listening because he was still preparing for tomorrow.

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><p>So that was Jailed: Pt 2. Next chapter will be up tomorrow! The next chapter for at least half of my stories will be tomorrow. So that's all. Read. Review. Subscribe. All of that good stuff. Read the other stories.<p>

One another note, I'm making another story, which is Kaldur centric. It shows how much the team can't function without him. What do you think?

And Eat Good Chicken!...Unless your a vegan, then... get that good tofu.


	4. Jailed:Part 3

Here's the next chapter and all that. I feel like I didn't cover everything I wanted to cover, but it looks good overall. I love constructive criticism and ideas for next chapters.

Alex's POV

I opened my eyes and everything was still blurry. I blinked a few times and everything came back into focus. I could remember everything, but what happened next. I stood up but my knees faltered and I fell again. I saw the light in the morning, it was morning! We had to go to the devil's house, damn it. I pulled myself and while ignoring the pain stretched all my muscles. I felt a little better and closed my eyes. I walked forwards and tripped over something huge. When I looked over it was... Mike. I shook him, trying to wake him up. He had a black eye and his hands were bloody. He opened his eyes slowly and looked to me. I offered a small smile because I could already tell what he did.

"Thank You." I said, and I stood up. I offered my hands but he got up on his own. He got hurt like that, for me. I almost wanted to cry. I started coughing but it burned. BAD.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Are you okay? I heard that that billionaire is going to adopt both of you." He said, walking to the door.

"Mike, even if he adopts me, I promise I'll visit and get you your Lithium." I said. It almost felt like a code for I'll pay you back, and he left. I shook Dick, and he woke up quickly in response. He blinked a few times and stared at me. He eyes almost flew out of their sockets when he saw my arms and caught a glimpse at my stomach.

"What happened to you?" Dick yelled, grabbing my arms but straying from the bruises.

"WE have to be really nice today, alright? People don't like the fact that a billionaire wants to adopt us." I said, stating to put on my clothes. Dick did the same, without asking any more questions. Dick was almost as smart as I was he was just more protective.

"Fine, I think that lady is waiting for us outside." Dick said, walking outside the door. And he was right, the large lady named took both of our arms. I winced slightly since I had a bruise on my forearm. She drove us to this huge mansion. We got out of it slowly and walked up the long path to the front door. After standing in front of the door for a few moments, it opened.

The person standing in the doorway was a man in a suit who introduced himself as "Alfred" , and he was the butler. Okay... Butler or not, I wasn't raised to have people clean up after me. If we got adopted I would be doing most of the work. He let us inside and showed us to a couch. We sat down and stayed quiet. Alfred came back out with some warm cinnamon rolls. politely said no, saying she needed to watch her figure. Yes she did, I must co-sign. Dick took 4, and I politely said no.

"Are you sure you don't want any?"Alfred said, moving the plate back. I couldn't really eat since that guy had grabbed my throat. I bowed my head slightly and started to cough.

"Alex is kind of... how do say it again? Allergic, yeah Allergic to cinnamon." Dick said, half reassuring, half embarrassed.

"Oh, then I will get you some chocolate-chip cookies. Master Bruce will be arriving soon." He said, disappearing into the kitchen. After getting my cookies and swallowing them down, which actually destroyed my throat Bruce came in through the front door, loosening his tie. He sat down on a seat across from us when stood up.

"I hope that you can keep a secret. I already have the paperwork done, so officially you are their primary caretaker, that okay with you.?" She said, looking at him intensely. Can you say disgusting? So he's our primary caretaker. And he hasn't actually adopted us. He gets some points for that. This place was so huge. He must be lonely.

"That is okay with me. Are you leaving, now?" He said, politely. She stood and left, probably thinking he was being rude but couldn't complain. When she left, we all just sat there quietly for a few minutes until I broke the silence.

"You lied."

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><p>So that was Jailed: Pt 3. Thinking that was a good enough ending before my brain stopped working. I need ideas, help anything. I won't be updating for about a week and a half so maybe...March 5th? I don't know. that's all. Read. Review. Subscribe. All of that good stuff. Read the other stories.<p>

And Eat Good Chicken!...Unless your a vegan, then... get that good tofu.


	5. Liars and Screaming

Now, I've been wondering... how do I introduce that whole Batman/Bruce thing? I guess I'll just have to make it up when I get there. note: If anyone has a link to the Romani translator... .UP. Do you know how many stories I've read where people are looking for it? Lots.

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><p>"You lied."I said, staring holes into him. Bruce looked startled,and leaned forward.<p>

"Huh?" Is all he could say. That's it. Just a simple minded stupid reply.

"You heard me. Sure, I'm grateful for what you've done, really I am. But you lied to us and that's really not nice. So explain. Now."I said, leaning back. I sounded like a brat but I really just wanted to get my point across. He looked even more shocked from what I had just said. Alfred had then took the time to leave without anyone seeing him... except for me. I saw him leave one minute and 13 seconds ago. That was a good point from the disease, seeing it all, not being taken by surprise.

"What-What did I lie about?" He asked, looking so confused. Is he so serious? He must be dumber than I thought, and I'm 7 and a half.

"When my mom and dad died, you said that we would go somewhere safe, and you lied." I said, my eyes widening as I looked at him. I internally yelled at myself, for how my eyes will always betray my words. His eyes... I could tell how much I'd affected him. All the hurt, the sadness, my pain went to my eyes and he could see it well. I closed my eyes, deliberately stopping him from seeing them. But when I closed them, I saw the pain in Mamica's eyes, her wonderful blue eyes that I had, and I just couldn't keep them closed. When I opened them, Bruce was still in the same postion looking at me with his dark eyes, just staring at me.

"I'm sorry.I just-"

"I don't want an explanation. I can understand that some things are out of your hands. Just...I can see how hard you trying now. Thank you." I said, bowing my head. I sounded like a brat again, he probably thought I was being consoling but I wasn't. I was being that stupid brat that people want to get rid of. I hoped he could just forget all about it. I shifted my hair to one side and it ended a little past the middle of my back.

"Oh... How about I show you to your rooms?" He said,standing stiffly and going to the stairs. There were lots of them and it took basically 5 minutes to get to the top. I looked over at Dick, who was basically disappointed in me. He wasn't actually trying to show me, but I could see went and opened a door, then he stepped beside it.

"This will be your room. Alfred will bring food for you in an hour when you are all settled. I've brought some things from the trailer so...just go on." He said, and started to walk away. Jeez...he probably hates me. After hard deliberation, I went up to him quickly and with all the retarded things to do at that moment, I did #1... I hugged him. He made a sound that let me know he was shocked and he didn't hug me back. That was expected and I let go.

"Thank you." I said, lowly. Then I walked into the room and closed the door. Dick was sitting on the bed swinging his legs absentmindedly. I saw atleast four boxes on a wall in front of a huge walk-in closet. What in the world is this? I opened the box and let out a loud screech. Dick ran up to me and screamed too. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Bruce had come too. He's quick. Then the room was filled with the sounds of laughter and high-pitched giggles.

"Mom,we're flying!" I had said, that long time ago. It felt like a lifetime. We were watching the last practice we ever had. Tears started forming in my eyes. I remembered this, I remembered all of this. I needed to turn it off. I wasn't going to have a breakdown.

Not Now.

"Ah, man I can't keep watching this. Let's look at the...other stuff." I said, wiping my tears and looking through the other stuff.

"Oh, Mom's necklace." I put it in my hand and squeezed it.

_"Mommy, can I see it." I said, reaching for the sparkly item. Mamica took it off and put it in my hand._

_"First you squeeze it and think of someone you love. Once you put it on they'will feel your love." She had said._

_"Than I'll always think of you Mamica." I said, smiling. Mamica...Mamica...The vision shifted, the memory all out of place._

_"Mamica!" I screamed, while the tears I had burned into my skin. My hands were covered in blood and my brother was crying. All of this pain, it was too much, I HATE this. Make it stop, make it all stop._

I opened my eyes, and looked down at my hands. They were bloody from squeezing the necklace too tight. I winced, dropping the necklace on the floor.

"Alex, your hand is bleeding!" Dick said, grabbing my hands. Bruce had left the room and appeared with a first aid kit from the bathroom that was connected to this room. They have a first aid kit in the bathroom? Who gets hurt enough to need a kit that much? He went to my side and started to the out antiseptic. I put my hands out, ready for the slight burning. It didn't come at all. Oh yeah, after having a terrible memory like that, a total onslaught of the senses, I temporarily can't feel anything at all.

"Alright, you should be fine. What just happened? Richard was calling your name for a very long time." Bruce asked, ready for my answer. Should I tell him? What if he can't handle it? What if he doesn't want to have to take care of someone who's a little unhinged in the mind?

"Um... it was just the necklace. It was my mom's...she was supposed to give it to me on my birthday. Sorry for worrying you. Do you mind if I go to the bathroom?" His gaze softened at the faked innocence. My mom was supposed to give this to me, but I wasn't that sad about He nodded and I walked slowly into the bathroom, once I closed the door I quickly and easily started to cry. I tried to stay quiet and I did but the pain was coming back. My head was slowing hurting me, giving the full memory of my parents death again... and again... and again.

The blood, the tears, the screaming and the pain. I reached into my back pocket and got two of the pills from the bottle in my bag. My only solace were these pills, it wasn't something I could live without. I put them in my mouth and swallowed them easily. After two minutes,I could feel the effects of it. All my feelings were under control and I could breathe a little easier. I put water in my face and used opne of the towels to wipe it away.

I stepped out of the bathroom and everyone was gone. How long was I in there? I slowly walked around the room. Dick had put all the stuff away, and our clothes were in the drawers. We lived here now. We had a new...home. Lose one trailer ,get a mansion. But at what price? Watch your parents die creating deep emotional scars that will never heal while dealing with some rich guy and watching out for your twin. What kind of hell is this?

I started to walk down the steps. What about my pills? How would I get more? Sneak back into the center. Tell Bruce? No way, he might get rid of both of us. He's a celebrity too, so we'll have to go with him too important stuff. I hate this! I hate having to think of this. I want to read a large book that makes me disappear from existence for a few days. I just have my regimens spaced enough to keep for as long as I can without going to far and dying in the process.

I needed something to keep this off my mind. That's what mom says. I could remember it clearly when she had said. If I was completely happy, I wouldn't feel any of this. She had said this all started the first time I saw mom fall down and cut her arm when I was three. After that,I could remember everything and always wanted to learn. Dick learned with me and now our IQ's are 130. I stopped by the room opening. They were all seated at the dining table and were about to eat.

"Alex, you came back." Dick had said, and Bruce looked at me.

"Yeah. I'm alright." My voice had gone back to normal and I could see Dick sigh with relief. I went to sit next to him and saw a small plate of pasta placed in front of me. When? I looked around but Alfred was gone. Usually, I can remember from the slight memories taken by the corners of my eyes to see who had entered but this time...nothing. That guy is quick. We both started shoveling the food down our throats, mostly because other than that snack, we hadn't eaten in two days.

"When was the last time you guys ate?" Bruce asked, looking at us with the utmost scrutiny. I put up two fingers and he looked at us with some type of pity. It was quiet for the rest of the time we were eating until everyone was done.

"Um...Do you have any books here?" I asked, trying to make conversation. He nodded.

"Yes. There's a study on the other side. I could show you it tomorrow. if you'd like." He said. I smiled at him brightly. He looked a little startled by it, but smiled to.

"Thank You. I've been waiting to get some new material." I said. Maybe he liked books too, a topic I could actually handle.

"Really, what's your level? I think they gave you a grade level a while ago. Then I might be able to find something for you." He had said.

"Last time I checked it was 8th or 10th. Dick's on the same level as me." I said, leaning back and starting to stretch my arms. It was starting to get late, I could tell since Bruce kept checking his watch.

"I think it's time for us to go to sleep." I said, starting to get up. Dick followed and we started to make our way to the stairs.

"Good Night." Bruce called out and we wished him the same. We jumped into the bed, making a complete mess of the pillows and blankets as we snuggled ourselves in the mass of it all. Dick was already out one he put his head on the pillow. My head had other plans. I stayed awake in the darkness for two hours. Then, when I finally star getting drowsy, I start to fall asleep.

That's when the screaming started.

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><p>Well... that was good. Next chapter will be up on Monday. I stated editing a new story about Kaldur, the first chapter will be up on March 14th. That is all. Read. Subscribe. Review. Eat. The good stuff.<p> 


	6. Nightmares and Chandeliers

Hello... said that I would update on Monday and I did! Next chapter will be out on...Thursday at the earliest, Saturday at the latest. The next chapter will be longer than this, and will have almost all of my favorite characters. Thank you for reading. When you review, it makes me happy. When you tell me what I'm doing wrong, my story is better for you to read. When you give me ideas, I sing Green Day...that's all.

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><p>"Mamica!" HE screeched before rolling over to keep screaming. I shot up and grabbed his shoulders but he was fighting me the whole way. He pushed me away and I fell off the bed.<p>

"Dick! Wake up. It's just a nightmare!" I screeched, getting of the floor. But it wasn't just a nightmare,I thought. He's seeing them die,again. Then, Bruce ran inside the room wearing a t-shirt ant some boxers. If this were any other time I would die from laughing but now it was serious business. Bruce approached the bed, and I was already trying to hold Dick, desperatly trying to wake him.

"Wake up, Wake up. Just stop crying." I said, over his screaming. I kept I looked over at Bruce who was in a state of shock.

"Alexandra!" Dick screamed, putting his hand out. I pulled him into my arms, and hugged him tight. His eyes were still closed, and I could almost see his dream now.

"I'm right here. I'm right here."I said, repeating it over and over until he stopped crying. He looked straight at me. His expression made me want to puke, I hate seeing my brother so sad. It just killed me inside.

"_Alexandra_." He mumbled, saying my name the correct way. I stared at him for a few moments.

"Ai avut un coşmar şi ai fost ţipând. Eştibine?**(1)**"I asked, staring into his blue eyes. He didn't answer me at all, he just stared at me as if he wasn't sure I was there. There were tears in his eyes and I wiped them away. I felt like throwing up again,but I couldn't leave him. I put my hands on his shoulders and we had some type of staring contest.

"Richard, Alfred made some hot chocolate downstairs for you. Come with me." Bruce said, putting out his hand. I let go of Dick and he left with Bruce.

Once they were out of sight I quickly ran into the bathroom and emptied my stomach into the toilet. I went to the sink after flushing and rinsed my mouth. I left my room quickly and ran down the stairs to find Dick. When I got there he was sleeping on Bruce's shoulder and I had no idea what I would do. I saw Alfred there who patted a seat next to him. I slowly went to the seat and sat next to him. Once I did, the bruises from the center sarted to tingle and my breathing constricted.

"I can see that you haven't slept in days. Am I correct, Miss Alexandra?" He said, calmly passing me a cup of cocoa. I drank some slowly and answered.

"Last time I actually slept through a night was two days ago." I said slowly. He stood up, and put a hand on my shoulder. He didn't know but there was a bruise there, and I winced. He cocked an eyebrow and after staring at each other for a few minutes, I unwillingly pulled up one of the of my sleeves, showing two bruises on my forearm. He went into the kitchen and came back with a First Aid kit(does he buy these things in mass bundles?), and started to treat it. After wrapping it we kept drinking the hot chocolate.

"You should have had a doctor check you out before coming here. That would look a lot worse If I didn't wrap it. Are those the only bruises?" When I shook my head no, he started to reach for the kit. I put my hand out.

"I'll handle it. I've been wrapping my own cuts since I turned four. I couldn't see a doctor because it happened at almost 4 in the morning today. You shouldn't worry so much about someone you don't know." I said, looking away from him. I didn't want him to know me, I didn't want anyone to know me. If any of them found out about my problem they might get rid of both of us. I had to protect my brother and he would always protect me.

"You are a part of the family now, it's our job to know about you. Would you like to tell me why someone attacked you?" He looked calm, as if seeing someone with cuts and bruises didn't take him by surprise anymore. Maybe he used to be a doctor or something. I hid a smile from him. He was one of the nicest I've net since my parents died.

"Some guy heard that "Bruce Wayne" was adopting us and got pretty angry. I just made sure that Dick didn't get hurt." I said, motioning to my brother. I got up from the stool and started to go to the bedroom.

"I'd rather leave them there."I said, running up the stairs. I went up the the bed and wrapped the bruises quickly. Then, I finally had a good night's sleep.

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><p>It wasn't until the next morning when I realized how hectic a billionaire's life might be, and how fast people could know about there lives so quickly. I would know that morning. It was almost normal, when I went into the kitchen and started to eat the awesome waffles Alfred had prepared, I wanted to call him grandpa and welcome him into the family right there... like now.<p>

"Where's Bruce?" I asked him as he was cleaning up. He answered with a simple went to work thing and I started looking for something to do. And after 30 minutes, I did something that I haven't done in years with my brother.

We actually watched T.V.

It took the longest 10 minutes but we figured out how to use that remote and turn it on. Alfred seemed amused at are fighting over how to use it when the channel changed to a tabloid show. Some blond lady was talking with a forceful attitude.

"New reports are in that billionaire Bruce Wayne had taken in two wards of the state. Alexandra and Richard Grayson, who earlier this week lost their parents in a fatal accident. Is this the result of his guilt from the death of his parents or-"I shut off the T.v as soon as the sentence was over. I dropped the remote on the floor and walked away. Dick followed me.

"He's an important person Alex, obviously anything that goes on in his life becomes public knowledge. That's what you told me, remember." I kept walking just looking around until I found some double doors down the hall. I pushed through and found my own private heaven. The library that he was talking about yesterday...it was huge. I ran around the place just taking in all the different books he had. Different types of books, science, math, literature, every subject imaginable. Even learning languages were here. I wanted to live here.

"This place is awesome." I said, twirling around a little. I grabbed a book and sat down to read it.

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><p>Watchtower<p>

At that moment, he felt like he was suffocating. And being Batman, that kind of feeling didn't happen often. It was a fairly simple meeting until Flash screwed it up. He wasn't even there for the majority of it, but came a few minutes before it was over. He was ready to close the meeting when he just zoomed in.

"You have kids?" He asked, almost accusingly. Everyone else in the room(Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Black Canary, and Martian Manhunter ) turned wide eyed and looked at him.

"Your point, Flash?" He replied curtly, not trying to give anything away. Flash took a chair next to him, swinging a little.

"You're going to have to be extra careful now, since you got kids in the house." He said, chuckling at the "kids in the house' part. The rest of the people in the room were still trying to take in the fact that Batman had kids. Someone like him doesn't take in kids. He gave him a glare that said"When am I not careful" and got up to leave.

"One more thing, can I bring my nephew over? His parents left on a cruise and I think I'm boring him." Flash said,lying. I mean, who can get bored with Flash? It's pretty much impossible. Batman gave him an imperceptible nod that meant yes and left. he moved quickly because he didn't need any confrontations from Superman or Wonder Woman. Anyway, he needed to check on Alex and Richard. What could they be doing right now?

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><p>This is how you without a doubt scare the hell out of a person who has no idea that you're a professional acrobat. It all started after he didn't want to read anymore and we were really bored. So we started doing some tricks just for the fun of it. And leave it to us to take to the highest level. So here we are, hanging by my ankle on the chandelier while we waited for Alfred to come back from grocery shopping. My ankle stayed looped to keep us from falling off. I held Dick's hand so he wouldn't drop down.<p>

"Shouldn't we try to figure a way out of this?" He said, swinging his legs a little. I looked around quickly,but all the blood was starting to rush to my head. It didn't help that I also using equations to calculate the easiest way to do it. It took two minutes but I finally got it.

"Alright, I'm going to swing you and when I let go, you reach for that holder on the wall."I said, giving a nod to the wall on my right.

"You ready,Dick. On the count of ten, I'll need some momentum." I said, starting to swing him. I was up to eight, when the front door had opened.

"10!" I yelled, launching him into the wall. He did two flips and reached for the holder. When he got down, Bruce was in front of him. I covered my hand with my mouth and curled myself up holding my feet with the other hand. Now both of my feet were locked into the chandelier.

"What were you doing? You could have gotten hurt." He said, trying to be stern, but was kind of amazed that Dick was unfazed by the whole act.

"I'm sorry. I used to...um, do tricks like that with my parents and-" Dick couldn't even get out that fake sentence because Bruce pulled him in for a hug. For a second there, Dick had that genuine smile, one I haven't seen since the day before they died. I needed to get down. I hooked my arms into the chandelier and let my legs get loose. I did a few pull-ups and kept holding on. Then I looked down. Bruce was holding Dick's shoulders and smiling at him.

"You don't have to apologize, you just caught me off guard. Now then, where's your sister?" HE said, looking around. Thankfully,. he didn't look up. I started to swing, because I really needed to get out of here.

"She's probably in our room. Do you want to come with me? She is really, really hard to wake up." He said, stressing his point. Ugh. Is he seriously doing that? Bruce chuckled a little and followed him up the stairs. I was on my tenth swing and I let go and grabbed the holder and quickly dropped down. Then I quickly ran into the study. I found one of the books and put myself on my back, then put the book over my face. After that, I did something I haven't done in months. I concentrated on the feelings of sleeping, the memories I have of doing it and... went to sleep.

"Alex...Alex...ALEX!" Dick yelled, bringing me out of my slumber. I sat up slowly, rubbing my eyes.

"Yeah, what happened?" I said,getting up. Dick raised an eyebrow, but I had already explained that I could do that long ago so he calmed down.

"Nothing much. Let's go eat." He said, starting to walk out.

"Do you mind if one of my friends come over with his nephew?" Bruce asked, as we walked to the kitchen.

"When?" I asked, putting out the plates.

"Two weeks from now." He replied. We both nodded and started to eat, since Alfred left food for us. Alfred is the best, no questions asked.

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><p><strong>(1)<strong>you had a nightmare and you were screaming. Are you okay?

I wasn't exactly sure how to do a nightmare, but I think there will be another one, and it will be phrased better. Nest chapter will be Alex and Dick meeting Wally. Any ideas, I loved to put them in if you've got any. Also, should I get a beta. I've got one more question... what do you want to see after?

Read...Review...Subscribe...Hearts to you all


	7. Meet Wally!

Hello...*ducks arrows and batarangs* I'm only late by a few days, so leave me alone. I love you guys so much. The reviews and Alerts make me want to type way more. So...without further ado,

MEET WALLY!

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><p>Two weeks had passed quickly, faster than expected. We were just sitting around, strewn on the couch, our legs halfway tangled. I was reading a book and Dick was looking through the pile that I had left behind on the floor. Bruce walked in with a suit that almost exclaimed " you can't afford this", raised an eyebrow at my reading selection again and proceeded to look at all the other books we were plowing through. He started to put them in some sort of pile, and after a few seconds, I could see it was alphabetical order.<p>

"Allen and his nephew will be coming over today." He said, offhandedly. He always referred to Barry as Allen, nothing else. I've never met him, but you could tell that Allen was Bruce's best friend. Why else would he put up with him? Bruce was a nice guy, so I guess. HE stood up, and buttoned his jacket.

"Wait, you said "you guys" as if you won't be there...you have work, huh?" I said, tightening the straps on the bag that was next to me. I took my medicine in the morning, but I would need two more by 5:00 if they stayed too long.

"I'll see you guys later. Maybe we'll go out and do something tomorrow, okay?" he said, smiling. I remembered his face when he was sleeping, that night two weeks ago and the smile he had then was nothing like it. Bruce was unsure of everything, wasn't he? Allen lived far away, maybe in Kansas if I wasn't mistaken. That takes a day just to get here by plane. Maybe I'm wrong,even though I never am.

"We'll wait for them. Don't be late. See you later." I said, starting to push him out the door. Once it closed, the fun would finally begin. I started to take all the books back into our room and my brother proceeded to move the furniture. Whenever the house was completely empty, we would take a chance to brush up on our acrobatics.

"Alright Dick, call it out!" I said, moving to the back off the room.

"front handspring, back handspring, front handspring, back handspring, back handspring, front handspring, back handspring...umm...Front handspring, cartwheel, back handspring, back handspring,add an aerial." He said, and I did it all, ending with my hands in the air and a smile. I did a few bows and there was a knock at the door.

"Coming!" I yelled, running to the door, excitedly. The blood was rushing to my head and back to the rest of my body; a feeling I hadn't had in a while. Dick was still doing some flips, aerials and other things that should be way beyond his capacity to do. I opened the door and two people were standing there.

"Hi. Umm... You're Barry, right?" The older man nodded and both of them came inside. The younger one, with red hair and green eyes widened more then I thought was possible as he took in the humongous place.

"That would be me. This is Wally, my nephew." He said, smiling. I waved at him, at least there was someone else feeling uncomfortable.

"Hi. I'm Alex. You guys want some Pizza, Bruce ordered, like 4 boxes. He didn't tell me why, though. You want?" I said, walking towards the kitchen. They followed me , but stopped when they caught a glimpse of Dick doing he routine. When he turned to find out he had and audience, he turned bright pink. Weirdly enough, he hates being taken by surprise even though he sneaks up on me every day. Weird little ninja.

"Hi. I'm Richard, but you can call me Dick." he said, excitedly. Obviously, the blood was still racing around in his head.

"Well then, Bruce sent me to...check on something. You mind if I step out for a second?" Barry asked. We all nodded and he left.

"You want a slice?" I said, opening the first box. The kind didn't really matter because he just took it and shoved it down.

"Dude, when's the last time you ate?" I said, in a joking matter. It probably wasn't the right thing to say because he immediately stiffened and ate slower.

"Hey, I'm not being mean. One time I didn't eat for three days. Horrid." I said, remembering the feeling. Reminder, when I have a flashback, I temporarily lose focus on my surroundings and am completely submerged in the memory. All feelings are felt and all pains make themselves known. I shook my head, and let go of the memory. Since I had taken my pills, doing it was easy. Without them, that wouldn't happen. I would destroy myself trying to make it stop and give myself a hemorrhage. Dick was still eating, almost done with his slice. Wally looked at me wide-eyed, but diverted his attention back to the slice. He probably didn't want me to ask why he was looking at me that way, and I wasn't going to.

"Yeah... So, how old are you?" Dick asked, taking a napkin and wiping his hands.

"I'm nine, how about you?" He asked, also finishing his piece.

"Seven... What do you want to do?"

"Maybe you could show me some of those moves you did..." He said hopefully, letting his voice drag close to the end. I looked at my brother and my brother looked at me. Then, both of us looked at him, with an almost evil grin.

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><p>"Sorry! I thought you could handle a simple round-off... just keep the icepack on your head." I said, then he winced again. I winced because he did and made a small smile to show that I wasn't worried.<p>

"How about we just watch some television and play some games... that should keep us alive...right?" Dick said, making me giggle and Wally chuckled at the face I made when I giggled.

"Bring the food." I said, and we laid on the floor and watched Wally used the remote since we had no idea how to use it. Dick fell asleep by the first show, mostly because the point of it was stupid. i just didn't fall asleep like that.

"Can I ask you something? I mean, I've only known you for a day and you probably won't answer and I just sound generously stupid but-"

"Just ask. I don't mind." He said, staring at the T.V.

"When you messed up the round-off, you held your arm tight. But the injury was to the head, what happened?" I said, and he immediately stiffened. Great job, Alex. Make hi feel bad again.

"I..was playing outside with my dad and got hurt." He said. His right hand twitched when he said it, and the rest of his body was relaxed. He has just shown me his tell. He just lied. But who hurt him? I closed my eyes and went to sleep and soon after, he did the same.

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><p>"They seem like good kids." Flash said simply, tapping his foot on the side of the desk. He stopped when Batman raised a brow at him, but quickly continued when he looked.<p>

"They are good kids." He answered gruffly, passing Flash the papers he needed.

"Maybe Wally came come around more... you know, and they could be friends and... stuff." He finished, looking away.

"Depends on what my house looks like after this." Batman said, going to the bathroom to change his clothes. Now he was Bruce Wayne, billionaire and adoptive parent.

They quickly went into the den where the T.V was playing cartoons mildly. All three of them were in a tangled mess on the floor, sleeping. It was an adorable sight, but it was time for Flash and Wally to leave. Flash picked him up as fast as a Flash would and hoisted Wally on his back.

"I'll be leaving now." Flash said, looking back at Bruce. He took the time to realize how different this Bruce was. Batman was cruel, silent and reserved. _But now..._

As Bruce picked up his twins-_his __twins_- each in one arm, heads supported by his shoulders, he looked like a father. Bruce walked away from him and started to go up the stairs.

"Next week, he can stay over." He said, not even bothering to look over his shoulders since Barry was already gone. Bruce brought them into their bed, and started to walk out. Almost as if it was second nature, he turned to look at them to make sure they were comfortable. _They're fine... My kids-John and Mary Grayson's kids- are okay._ Bruce shook his head, trying to rid himself of his thoughts. I've only known them for a month...How can I feel this way about them?

He quickly departed, going on his way to the Bat Cave.

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><p>"Wally, where are you?" Alex mumbled, reaching out her hands. I laughed hard, and covered my mouth. Then, I gently pushed her off the bed. SHe made a small thud and the blankets went with her.<p>

"De ce ai făcut asta? Eu ar fi putut sa rănit. Uneori vreau doarsă te împinge de pe alte lucruri şi **(1)**..." She said quickly, rushing through the words so quickly I started to get scared. She started to pace and I shook her a little.

"Did you take your meds?" I asked slowly and she responded by going into the bag and taking two. I breathed a sigh of relief and sat on the bed.

"I heard a sound. Let's go check it out." She said, grabbing my arm and pulling me out into the halls. I kept walking and she jerked me back, covering my mouth.

"It's Bruce. Look at what he's doing." She whispered, squinting just a little so that she would get would be sure of what he was doing.

"10...48" She said, slowly. And then, the clock he was infront of...opened.

"Did he just?" I said, lowly. Alex put her hand over my mouth again as Bruce stepped in.

"Maybe we should follow?" She said, shrugging her shoulders.

"No way. Let's just...go when he's not home." I said, surrendering to Alex's went back to bed and slept longer than anyone should.

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><p>Unknown Location<p>

"So...your saying, that the CHILD TOOK PHOTOS!" The man yelled, not even looking back at the two henchman, quaking in their boots.

"Well, boss ya see...AHHH!" The man was quickly silenced with two shots to the head. The other man kept silent for fear of his life. The blood surrounded him and it seemed to sink into his skin. He fought the feeling of running away and cleared his throat lowly.

"Boss, those kids were adopted by the billionaire,Bruce Wayne. If we take them now and force them to give up the camera-" He stopped as "Boss" started to cackle madly, and it made him want to crawl under a rock. Even though this henchman delighted in his first killing mission, just the bosses laugh made him think death was coming.

"You might just live longer than I thought, my boy." He said, then continued in that_ sickening _voice. "I will have to call someone who can do things right." He said, taking out his phone and looking for the number to a certain clown.

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><p>*gasps* Who could that be? Man, You guys probably already know so just review on how you might want me to proceed with this thing.<p>

*gets on knees* Give me constructive critisicm...PLEASE! I feel so lost in my writing. I like sentence format and stuff, give me pointers and stuff. Got another story in the works, should be up tomorrow or the next day.

**(1)**Why did you do that? I could have gotten hurt. Sometime I just want to push you off other things and...

Sooo... I said the latest date would be Saturday...It's Tuesday night for me. Well, my bad. Got a surprise test and all that crap. Eh.. next chapter will be in the next 3-4 days. See what I did there? You have no set date this time. .Subscribe. Special shoutout to Keep Moving Forward, cause it kept me moving forward. That's it.


	8. Taken

It was almost 3:00 when Bruce finally left. We were waiting and waiting, but we pretended to be happy to see him in the morning. Technically, we weren't pretending at all. It was pretty nice to see him in the morning. He was smiling and doing weird stuff... just like mom and dad. This place is starting to grow on us and I like the feeling. Once he left, the plan was put into action.

"Alex, let's go. Alfred went out for groceries again. Since you eat like a monster and gain..._no weight!_" He says in a worshiping tone, poking my belly. I giggle and start moving down the stairs slowly, as if someone could come at any time. When we approach the grandfather clock, I lookaroung slowly and Dick acts as my lookout. I look at the time briefly breifly before I proceed. 12:36 and...12 seconds. I take the hands and start to turn them.

"10... 40...-_SLAM_ !" I was about to turn it to the eigth mark when the back door closed loudly. I turned the clock back to the time it probably was by counting how long it took me to put it and the original time. I grabbed Dick's hand and we started to make our way downstairs to see who came home first when I heard a little chuckle and a voice.

"You guys check upstairs and I'll look around here." The voice muttered and I winced painfully. I knew that voice, I could remember it clearly from the day my parents died. He was smiling as he poured something on the ropes...and I took pictures with the camera. They're coming for the camera, then? He didn't want people to know what he did? Why would it... I couldn't handle this right now. I pulled Dick with me as we made our way quickly back into our room. I heard steps in the hallways and me and Dick went inside the closet. Then, our door opened and two men came inside. I covered my mouth and Dick covered his. It was one step at a time and the gravel that must have been stuck in their boots were making cracklng sounds as they looked around the room.

"_Come out, Come out, where ever you are."_ The man said, then both men erupted in laughter. I wanted to puke so bad. I hated their voices, their sounds. Everything about them that I could feel assaulted my senses, destroying my insides in a way of mental breakdown. I wouldn't move, couldn't let the last remnant of my family taken away. Then, the closet door opened. I pushed my brother depper into the closet but it was of no use. We had been found.

"Oh, lookie here. Hey, get the other kid." The first man says to the other as he picks me up. At that moment, I'm screaming, biting , kicking and punching, trying to get out of his reach. Dick does the same but he is way luder than I could ever be. After minutes of doing this they pull out a cloth and try to put it over our mouths. However, they miscalculated because they drop us while doing this. I grab Dick's hand and we run out of the room, dashing to the kitchen. I remembered that there was a phone there, next to the stove. I grabbed it and started to dial in Alfred's number. I had seen all the number once, a few days ago when I got bored and was looking around the house. WHen, Alfred picks up, I try my best to tell him without screaming.

"They...People in the house... They're looking for us... we need someone's help and... _DICK!" _I screamed into the phone as one of the men grabbed him. Alfred was saying some words that I couldn't hear because they grabbed me too. Then, the front door opened and I heard some sounds of a fight. I couldn't exactly see what was going on but before the man put the cloth over my mouth, I saw Bruce. After 20 seconds, Dick had been knocked out by whatever was in the cloth. I pretended to have been out too, so that they wouldn't give me enough to make me sleep. They dropped us both and I began to cough loudly. The gas in the cloth was painfully interacting with the nerves in my brain. My head was rejecting the gas and wasn't doing well in the fight. I looked up slowly and saw Bruce beating the life out of one of the guys. Then it was three on one, Bruce vs. all three of them. He was winning, weirdly enough since they had the advantage. Then, we were picked up from behind. Reinforcements. Dick was limp in their hands, and I fought to get him in my arms. They tried to pull me through the back door and I hung on by my fingernails.

"Dick! Alex!" Bruce yelled, as I let go. I had tried my best and now it was over. Then, Bruce had been hit over the head with some vase. He fell down, and tried to recover himself but they started to kick him. I tried to scream, but the sounds were stuck in my throat. I kept trying and with the loudest voice I could muster I started to yell his name, almost will him to get up.

"Don't kill him. We need him alive for the money." The man says and the world goes black.

* * *

><p>Alfred is worried...and this doesn't happen often for him. He called Commissioner Gordon at once and they all appeared in front of the house. He quickly opened the doors and stepped on broken glass.<p>

"Jesus, what happened in here?" One young police officer said as the Commissioner went into the kitchen.

'Portable to Central, I need a bus at Wayne Manor, possible brain damage." He says, and everyone chases to see who is out.

"Holy shit, is that Bruce Wayne." The same officer, known as Richards, says as he steps over other items to stand by him. There was blood surreounding him and other people behind the counter.

"Looks like he put up a good fight and got bashed in with this vase-"Richards picks it up and rolls it around before putting it in an evidence bag."Guys got a strong skull. _You have no idea... _Alfred thought as he started to check Bruce's wound.

"He'll be okay. However, the wound is very deep." He looked around the room quickly and almost swore.

"They took the kids. Richard and Alexandra wee taken, Bruce most likely tried to stop them and was taken out." Richards went to the back door and touched the sides. As he ran it up and down, he could feel the ridges in it.

"One of those kids has a lot of fight in them, look at this. probably hung on with their fingernails. Damn." The paramedics came and took all of the hurt into different ambulances. Gordon took a deep breath and muttered under his breath to the others.

"We've got ourselves another media circus, huh?" He expected no answer, since he was already walking out. They were greeted by many cameras, reporters, horrible looking berets, and other cops. This was going to be a big mess real quick.

"What happened in there?

"Was Bruce Wayne on of the men in the ambu-"

"Was this a home invasion?

'What about the wards? Are they-"

"Let me answer a few of your questions." Gordon said in the loudest voice he could muster. He wasn't exactly sure what happened himself, but he needed to get them off his back. Everyone was quiet, and waited for him to continue. He took a deep breath and tried to give enough info that would make them leave.

"This does not look like a simple robbery because nothing was taken. Correction: two thing were taken; Richard and Alexandra Grayson, Bruce Wayne's wards. They will most likely be held for ransom. interrupted the kidnapping and is now hospitalized. That is all I know. I have no time for questions." He says, quickly going through the crowd and getting into a car. Because of Gordon, the ambulances get a head start which is good for them. He takes a few turns to shake off the media before getting to the hospital and checking on Bruce, who was now waking up.

"Ugh...What happened?...Jesus... Where are they!" He yelled, after remembering the actions that took place earlier in the afternoon. Gordon took a step back when Bruce jumped out of the bed. He'd never seen him so...enraged. Bruce Wayne was the type of person who couldn't convey that type of emotion. Those children..they must have changed him.

"They were taken. We found you out cold in the kitchen. You took out three of their guys. Pretty good work,I've got to say. However, there's been no word from the kidnappers." He said quickly, and Bruce sat down without saying a word. He knew that yelling would change nothing.

"What now?" He asked, not looking up at all. He was damning himself to hell for letting them go. He was Batman, for God's sakes, of all the things in the world to do, he let them leave right in front of him.

"We would like to review the video tapes and see exactly what happened. The men who were in your house haven't woken up, which means there were more. The others could have some mark that allies them with some criminal." Gordon said. Bruce nodded and went into the bedside table, pulling out a pen and a notepad.

"Here is the pass-code for the tapes. It all goes into a sever that automatically destroys itself every 8 months. Just give it to an IT guy and they'll show you." Bruce says, and starts to rub his head rou_ghly. _Gordon sighs hard and puts a hand on Bruce's shoulder.

_"_Don't worry too much. They'll be fine. Just get some sleep. You're being discharged in a few hours. You know how bad it will be outside." He says, giving a little smirk and quickly departs, leaving Bruce in his own perpetual sadness. He tried to go to sleep but what happened earlier would always bring him back to earth.

_"Bruce! Bruce!" I heard as I took down one of the men. I looked up and saw Dick hanging loosely on another man's shoulders. Alex was screaming her head off. I tried to push pass them but they knocked me back and put me down. Of course they'll take me by surprise. I tried to get up but they started to kick me. i kept trying to move but they were still kicking me._

_"Bruce! Bruce! Bruce..." I heard as my world went black._

* * *

><p>Bruce decided that the best thing to do was go out the back door of the hospital and bypass the media circus all together. They would soon get wind of him leaving, but for now he had things to do. For now...Batman had things to do. He easily went into the cave and tried to check the tapes. When he did, his eyes opened and he almost did a double take( but Batman doesn't do things like that). They were playing with the entry clock. Alex was moving the arms too, as if they knew what would happen. When the people came into the house, she moved them back...<em>to the exact time.<em> Jeez...who in the hell could do that? They were going to have a talk about that when this was over.

He kept looking and he watched as she led them to their room, where the camera could only get a few of the closet when the door was opened. Alex was looking through the box and she had grabbed something-a camera- and threw it before they came inside. _What was so important about some camera?..._Bruce thought as he kept watching. They found the both of them in the closet and fought with them for a while. Then they were dropped and they ran out of the room and went into the kitchen. They made a short call to...Alfred and Bruce came in fighting. Then, it was all over.

Bruce sat back in his chair and took off his cowl. The police would probably realize that she had the camera. Bruce got into the cave by another way and entered the house again, which weirdly had no media surrounding it. _Probably at the hospital..._he thought. Then, he went upstairs to his room and tried to think about what he would do next. Every time he did one thought came to his mind.

Punch someone. Hard.

* * *

><p>Only four of them were allowed into the room, which was now sealed off and closed to any other police officer. Two new recruits, Richards and Montoya fidgeted in their seats. They were still unsure of the exact reason they were there. They just exited the academy a year ago. The other two in the room were the Commissioner and Bullock. They were all sitting at the round table in silence before Gordon started to talk.<p>

"You're probably wondering why your here. It's simple: you aren't bad cops. I've already singled out all the traitors and you aren't in that will be working on the Grayson kidnapping, no one else. Both of you will check the tapes for anything useful. Me and Bullock are doing crowd control in the meantime. We'll be back in about an hour. enjoy." He said as they both departed.

"If we ace this, they'll probably make us detectives." Montoya said, flipping back her brunette hair. She quickly put it in a bun and started to access the security cameras in Wayne Manor. It took about 20 minutes for them to notice the camera and other minute details. Richards wrote it all down on a pad and when Montoya started to turn off the link, he stopped her.

"Can this thing go back any farther?" he asked. Montoya nodded, showing him that the server had the last two months intact.

"You think we'd get i trouble if we saw what they did before this. I mean...what if they came before?" He proposed, even though the possibility of that was near zero. She didn't exactly care and set it back, almost interested i seeing what Bruce Wayne was like behind the scenes.

_30 minutes later_

"Conclusion...Bruce Wayne is like one of the coolest dads ever." Richards said as they watched all three of them playing Dance Dance Revolution.

"Isn't it sort of impossible to get that many points without fainting or passing out." Montoya said astonished as they kept on going.

"God...why are we watching this? We should just go and find the camera at the house." Richards said, and Montoya ended the link, finally. They both started to head out when they were faced by some unnamed cop.

"So you guys got the Wayne case, huh? Whatever. This just means almost every other case you have after this will be surrounding him." He said in a disgusted tone, pushing against Montoya, partially throwing her back. This infuriated her to a higher extent, even though she didn't show it. Montoya was most likely 3/4 his size so when she fell back, Richards had to catch her. Now , she was embarrassed. Montoya didn't handle embarrassment well. Before she could stop herself, her hand curled into a fist and shot out to punch him across the face. She didn't want to get suspended, but she didn't regret doing what she did. He looked like he was ready to fight when Richards lifted her up and ran her out of the room. She had glanced back and saw he had a bloody nose. SHe was pretty satisfied with what she'd done.

"How could you do that? You could be suspended, now. Did you even think about the consequences...No, I guess you didn't." He said, his voice dripping with anger. She took a step back, eyes widening by his tone of voice.

"Why are you so mad? The guy needed a good punch to the face." She said, strands of her hair falling to her face.

"I care because I...forget it. Let's just get to the Manor." He said, and they both left to his car.

* * *

><p>The room wasn't cold, but the insulation of it all made it feel that way. He found himself laying on the floor,back to the ceiling. Dick stood up and tried to survey his surroundings. It was dark and taunting, but large enough to fit many people inside. He grabbed his head to stop the dizzy feeling it was giving him.<p>

"Alex?" He said, trying to hear her answer.

Silence.

"Alex!" He screeched, running through the room, desperate to feel her presence. He ran to the door, already knowing it was locked and started to bang on it. As his hands bled from the pressure, he sank to his crying and screaming before the pain in his head overtook him and knocked him out.

* * *

><p>"Richard!" I screamed, knowing that we had already been separated. We were kidnapped by people unknown, who probably killed my parents and were going to kill us too. That means Dickie could already be dead. I din't scream his nick-name because it wasn't there name to hear. They would use it against him and me. Using his formal name would give him the signal that I was alright. I wouldn't use him name any other way.<p>

"Is anyone there! Say something!" I screamed, searching for the door. Dick would have found it by now. I'm useless. I shook my head, banishing the thoughts. This was no time to let my mind take me away.

"What do you want! Let my brother go!" I screamed, but it was probably no use. My brother was probably dead, I would never see him again. I pushed my hair out of my face and screamed again. Then, the door starts to open. I ran to the back of the room but some one catches me, picking me up and hurting my waist.

"Put me down!" I screech, and the man doesn't listen. He just takes me out of the room. I'm placed on a room and my arms are tied to it. The room is now completely empty but I hear a voice.

"_I've got a new play-toy! Wonderful! Let's play a game!" _

* * *

><p>SO, I think that was a good place to stop. I might be late with the next chapter because of other stories I've neglected working on this. Did you like the police part? It took up a good part of the chapter but they needed a background for the next few chapters.<p>

See you in a little bit. I'm going to start the mailbag next chapter. I will always try my best to reply on PM too.


	9. Money and Bonds

New Chapter. Probably took my sweet time, all that stuff. All my stories will be updated on Saturday though, so that's that. Don't know what else to say but...I love MY Chemical Romance. Something Random.

* * *

><p>It's like that dream that I've had, a dream from before my parents died. I had already known that I was different from everyone else that I could use my mind to help me in ways others couldn't. Everything comes at a price...I learned that early. Never forget to take your meds, or else... What is the end of the sentence? I've always wanted to know. Not like this. Not without my own consent. I tried to move my arms again, but whatever metal used would be impossible to break, I'm not that strong. My legs were tied down too, and I was rendered immobile. I looked up at the completely white room, looking almost padded. Is this what it's like to be in a mental clinic? I thought as I looked again. The man from before, he had left long , the door creaked open, and I could smell the air around him. He smelled like a clown, but his name...I could remember it from a newspaper that I had read. Joker.<p>

"_DO you like playing games? You're a kid so I guess so. Want to hear the rules of my game?" _He said, then he moved to stand by me. I looked to my side then tilted my head up to see his face. A permanent smile was there covered in blood. I was still unsure of why his face had that sadistic smile on it.

"_Well? DO You WANT To Know The RULES!" _ He said, frowning at me. I didn't want to speak, my head was already starting to burn. I would be in some kind of pain if I didn't get my meds soon.

"Yeah...What are the rules?" I said,as my voice pretty much rattled my teeth. Everything started to hurt and I could swear to seeing black spots appear on the walls.

"_It's preeetyy simple. The longer you go without screaming, the more painful it will get. ANd sooner or later...you'll die." _He said, his voice getting somber before he started up again. "_But once you scream chhhhhhhh- _he made a slitting throat motion with his hands-_ you're finished. What do ya think? But first, we need proof of life."_ He said, smiling as he reached into his back pocket. He had pulled out a knife and had put it up to make it sparkle in the light. And as I looked up, he plunged it down into my leg. It felt like someone had pored boiling hot water into you, as if torture weren't enough for that person, pain was needed...and kids weren't exempt from it all. Blood had spurted from the wound by then, I could tell. I should have screamed but that was against the rules, so I did what only a person like me could. I imagined that I had never been hurt, and now...I couldn't feel a thing. Whatever happened to my leg...never happened.

I pretended to make a grimace, so he wouldn't try to stab me again. I looked at him and he looked at me. His face had a cross between despair and giddiness.

_"So you know how to play games. Tell me...Does it_ hurt?" He said, taking out some clippers. He picked up one part of my hair and played with it for a second before cutting it off quickly. I watched as fragments of it fell in front of me. I needed to answer before he tried to stab me again. I nodded slowly as if it hurt to do that.

_"Well,I'll be back later. You seem fun. Your brother isn't not a good player like you seem to be."_He said and with that, he left. Once the door slammed, I released myself from the mind control I put myself under. I could feel the wound now, knowing that the Joker had stabbed me in the calf. I screamed out at first, not knowing what else to do. Then I took deep breaths, as if it would make me feel better. I needed to put my screams to good use.

"Where's my brother! Please, just stop this! What did we do! Tell me!" I screeched and the door creaked open. Then, someone had been thrown in, you could hear the crash. I tried to look and confirm what I already knew to be true.

It was Dick.

* * *

><p>Officers Montoya and Richards had walked up the steps to appear in the front of Wayne Manor to find the camera that Alexandra had thrown. When they knocked on the door and Bruce opened it, he looked normal. As normal as anyone could look in boxers and a tank. He had slight bags under his eyes as he let them in.<p>

"Um,-"

"Just call me Bruce."He said, while running a hand through his hair.

"Can you lead us to Alexandra and Richard's room?" Montoya asked since Richards wasn't going to take the direct approach this time...or any other time. He started to walk away, then looked back and motioned for them to follow since they were unsure of what to do. They had walked up to a room, that had been acknowleged as the room they shared.

Both Montoya and Richards opened the door and started to look by the bed on it's right side since that is were the camera most likely ended up falling.

"Got it!" Richards pronounced, and swung the camera around, proud of himself.

"You mind if I take a look at it?" Bruce said, and both of them did a double take when they saw him. In the minute it took for them to find the camera, he had changed into jeans, Jordan's, and a long-sleeved shirt. Richards passed the camera quickly and Bruce seemed to go through it quickly when his eyes widened and he stopped going through pictures. Richards looked over and his back stiffened. Montoya also looked, however she grabbed the camera to bring them out of the trance.

"The death of their parents was planned. If we look at the people who were knocked out by you, they might match the photos. They'll be arrested for murder and if they give up who ordered them to do this, that person will go down too. Bruce, we'll give you an update as soon as it's available." Montoya said, since they were looking at it for way too long. Then, downstairs they all heard a thump sound as if something had hit the front door. Bruce went out side quickly to retrieve the package. He had hesitated while bringing it inside and had a look that said he wanted to kill something. Then Burn it. Then take the ashes and dance on them.

"It's from the Joker." He said, starting to open the box that was sent to him. He kept going until he saw the blood.

"Christ." He said, looking at his hands. They were covered in the crimson substance, and it made him gag, knowing who it came from immediately. But which one? Alexandra or Richard? He washed his hand and looked for some gloves, then gave a pair to each of the officers. They started going to the blood which was accompanied by thick long strands of hair.

"Alex... This is her's. Then the blood will most likely be her's too. " He said. Then, there was a picture. A simple picture that conveyed many things. A child with blood covering her leg, face contorted with the worst possible horror. There was also dried blood, which was actually moved in a way that it made a message which simply read.

$4 MILLION OR THEY DIE

* * *

><p>He was knocked out, obviously. There was a line out sweat tracing the outline of his face. He had been crying too, the dried streaks of hot tears revealing themselves when I twisted myself harder to see his full self. He needed to wake up. The blood was probably going faster out of my wound and I would pass out any minute now. I needed to get me out of this so I could handle this...and here comes over mind-shattering migraine that makes mere mortals just kill themselves. I gritted my teeth as the pain came crashing through my brain. I almost screamed out, almost tried to tear myself away from the table I was strapped to.<p>

"Wake Up! Now! Just get up, now! I need you to get me out of this right-" Then, I screamed like I been burned all over. I bit my lip to make my head stop this but all I could taste was blood. Nothing would make this stop, it would hurt until I could do something about it.

"Wake up! It hurts a lot. Just, stop all of this!" I screamed, more to my mind then to whoever was in the immediate area. That's it. I'm going to die from all of this. Now , all I have to do to live is only think of good memories, nothing painful, or I'll feel it and my body will interpret it as real and I won't be able to see. I should just think about where I am. Just focus on the walls or the air, it's different particles. Anything that would make me forget that I felt like I was being burned alive.

"I can't get this off! I mean it! Wake up!" I screeched and he started to stir. Finally, Some progress was being made.

"Hey, come on, get yourself up. I don't feel good at all. And I'm pretty sure I'm still bleeding!" I said, and he started to raise himself, rubbing his head furiously.

"Hey! Over here." I said, a little annoyed that he wasn't realizing that I was here. He looked over and his eyes widened.

"Just get me out of this." I said simply, groaning at the face he was making. He quickly tried to remove the shackles that held me. They were actually easy for him to break. I sat up trying to see my leg. It was still bleeding, and it looked like a gaping hole. The walls were getting more spotty, which was a really bad sign.

"Do you have any..." I said, letting the question drop as he reached around in his pocket and took out the perfect solace cloaked in a white pill. I took it quickly and swallowed faster than any other time I had in my life.

"Do you have any more?" I asked, and he shook his head. This would only last me another day If I was careful.

"We need to get out of here. Now." I said, pushing myself off the table...then falling on my face. My leg really did not want to cooperate with me at all. I ripped one of my sleeves of and tied it above the wound. Dick kneeled beside me, obviously worried.

"I think..you either have to...carry me...or I'm going to make myself walk."I said, reaching up to grip the table. I was able to stand at that moment and Dick helped me to put an arm around his neck. We started to make our way to the door and stopped right before it.

"Here we go." I said, before reaching for the handle.

* * *

><p>I know were I'm going with this now. I guess this will be good enough to last until Saturday when you get the new chapter. I've got news...Green Day is putting out Three albums in the next year! I know most of you don't care but I do. This is one of the few happy moments in my life.<p> 


	10. Saved

So I took a hiatus from everything for three months...which is a very long time, right. But some people leave for a whole year and don't even acknowledge what they've done. So...this is my attempt at a heart felt apology by giving you 4 chapters in the next two weeks that are all 4,500 words each for three of the good stories. Which were this one, Trust(the one where Artemis is in a coma), and Lead Us(the one where Kaldur sacrifices himself for the team). So, please don't hate me for my pause. Just learn to love what is.

* * *

><p>This was basically our last stand. There would be no second chance after this. If they found us, it would be instant kill, game over. This was the ultimate kill or be killed. Dick opened the door for me and we gingerly stepped out, unsure of what we would see. It was dark, not entirely musty but still dank. I entertained the thought of going towards the hallway that was lighter, but I couldn't be sure. We moved silently to through the place until we hit another door. This is what would happen every time. We'll see a door and have to decide whether we should open it or not.<p>

"Think we should open it?" Dick asked, and I shrugged, my head was starting to hurt a bit. I entertained the thought of just going to sleep, but that wouldn't be enough. We needed to get out of here quickly, I wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer. My head was really going to hemorrhage and I'd die before doing anything with my life. I had made a quick timetable in my head. I had about 2 hours before blood came out of my ears and at least 5 before I died without medication.

"Go ahead. Either way, something will happen. Whether we like it or not, just do it." I said, and he twisted the handle, pushing the door. He slipped a little, finally felling the effects of the trauma to his head. I lifted him slightly and we walked inside. This place was easily a labyrinth, made to confuse us. That would mean it was underground, because something huge like this wouldn't go unnoticed in Gotham. We had been walking for at least 15 minutes before I was sure we were on ground level. I pulled Dick closer to me and started to get into a faster walk, I needed out of here.

"We're close, I'm sure of it. The air smells different." I said, and we kept moving. I bet you're wondering why I would say something like that. Simple, remembering things also applies to smell, so I would be able to see if there was a difference in the time I was in here. Just another weird thing that I could do that I hated just a little. Dick took another and there was only one door in front of us. I moved in front of him and pushed through, stopping quickly when I saw who was there. And if you think I was outside, I would have told you that I was running through the grass. But no, I screamed bloody murder because we weren't, we were in hell.

* * *

><p>"They're being held underground, that's a fact." Detective Montoya said, taking a bite out of her sandwich. They had been having this argument for the past 15 minutes and it was getting tiring.<p>

"How could they be underground? Think about it, they're are in a warehouse. Kidnapped kids are always in warehouses." Richards said matter-of-factually, and she turned away.

"Look at the room Alex is in. It's bright white, with some type of lighting. We would have seen a warehouse getting renovated a while ago to have things like this... Fine, let's compromise. They're in a warehouse with a large underground base." She spun in her chair and went to the computer running a search to see how many warehouses have enough space to do something like that.

"Alright, there is only three warehouses in the area that can have that much space. I don't trust Joker, not on anyone's life. We should have three different task squads at each site to find them. I'll handle one, Richards gets one, and the Commissioner can assign a third-"

"Which I will be giving to Bullock, any questions? None, good. Be on your way and keep close contact with me, I'll have all your coms on in front of me. Bullock, go to the one Bruce is heading to. Those are the orders, go fulfill them to the best of your ability, we have more cases to deal with." He said, and everyone assigned headed out, unsure of what exactly would be in store for them.

* * *

><p>"Oh, Hello. Seems you got out ahead of plans!" Joker said, standing up from his chair. He looked the same as before, when he cut open my leg. Acting like we were the best of friends, how wonderful. He was sitting in front of a television with three different things showing on it, from what I could tell. They all looked like warehouses, which one were we in?<p>

"Little girl, you looked verrryyy interested in the screen, want to know more?" He said, smiling his bloody smile. Again, why so friendly? I looked around quickly, but some of the people were actually checking their ears. I must have screamed very loud, because some of the windows even had cracks in them. Blame my singing voice, I learned these things.

"Um, yeah." I said, shifting from foot to foot even though I was leaving spots of blood on the floor. He turned the system to face us and I retracted to go behind my brother. Sue me, Joker's face makes me want to piss myself. I didn't have to squint or anything but I only understood a few things. There were three warehouses being focused on in the screen. One of them were probably the one we were all in so Joker could keep an eye on the cops. But what about the other warehouses? What was the purpose for their usage?

"I can almost tell what your thinking. What about the other two? Simple, the - police - don't - trust - me, so I make them play a little game. Three warehouses, but where are the three kids? Are they in the address I gave, or the one capable to hold them? The answer is the first one my dears. Now how will you feel if Brucey goes to the wrong one?" He says, and I clench my fist. Don't know exactly why, but it's a reaction that I've grown accustomed to when I hear someone bad-talking him.

"What's happens when you go to...to the wrong one?" I say, inching back to make distance. I wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

"A bomb. I've got the detonator right here. It turns on 1 minute after I send out the signal and 30 seconds after it's on. How brilliant is that?" he says, adding just a little spin before his eyes land on us intensely.

"Now, how are we going to spend the time before he comes?" He says, walking towards us. I put my hand out, waving it a little.

"Wait! We can do nothing, just nothing and wait for them to arrive at the place. Them we can watch the places explode." I say, trying to make appease him. Distance is best if you don't want to die.

He smiled."Great mind think alike. I thought I would have to tie you down to keep you from leaving." He had sung the last part but his words were true. I knew he would have no trouble with it. My head was still pounding. I touched my ear and looked at my fingers.

Blood. My brain had been going into overdrive. Timetable is moved up and I probably only have an hour unless i force myself to sleep and get medication before I wake up. Tough.

"Look! Look! The cops showed up at the first location, the one you aren't in. I'm sending the signal. Now!" He said smiling, and the countdown appeared on the screen. 1 minute and 5 second before that place went sky high.

* * *

><p>Richards slammed the door on the cop car and tightened the straps on his bullet proof vest. Him and five others went inside with their guns and entered an empty room. He turned on his com.<p>

"Nothing is here. It's been abandoned for a while." He said, and he was answered with a "k" from everyone else.

_beep-beep-beep-beep-beep_

He looked at the center pillar and squinted just a bit.

"Run!...Everyone, there's a bomb, get out through the back!" He yelled and they ran like hell. Four of the others were out, due to Richards prompting but one had fell in their melee.

"Go!" Richards said pushing him out before the pillar blew open, sending Richards flying with its force. He had landed on his stomach, while feeling a warm ooze drip down his face and on his stomach. He was almost out of his mind before hearing some choice words.

"Richards, what's wrong? Answer me!" Montoya said through the com and he smiled.

"It's all good in the hood. I can't feel much but...be careful, alright sweetie?" Her said, with a bit of a slur as someone yelled and took his com.

"I need to request an ambulance at this location. There's shrapnel lodged in his back...there was a bomb. He was just talking, how could he be dead. Yeah, there's a bit of blood. IF you want to help him you'll get him an ambulance and not get yourself killed at the place you're at. I'll take care of him, Montoya. Alright!" The officer said in mock annoyance and put the com back in Richards ear.

"Hey, you still with me!" Montoya said, yelling at the same volume as before.

"Sure...why you yellin'" Richards said, still slurring a little but adds a giggle because he secretly thinks its cute.

"No reason. An ambulance has come to get you. I'm going into the next location. See you at the hospital, okay." She said, before disconnecting.

"Be...safe." He said, before the ambulance sirens could be heard.

* * *

><p>"Well, would you look at that. Only one person got hurt. Bet he has no idea what was going on when he flew like that." Joker said, starting to laugh at his own words. I heard my brother gag, but I kept focusing on the man's back. Would he be able to walk again? Surely, he had a bulletproof vest on so it'll probably look like a few 3 inch puncture wounds where ever he was hit.<p>

"He won't die, though. He's wearing a bulletproof vest. What did you use...to make that happen?" I ask, and he thought I was really interested. I may have been but not for bad purposes, I promise.

"C-4. It's made in a rectangular shape. I got mine from a place with a really long code to find. Had to group the coordinates and the key code very well. Want to hear it?" He asked, as if proposing a challenge. I nodded because of how stupid this would be for me.

"Fine. Its 96746r5h6c532." He said, reading it of some type of form that he had. Then, he pointed at the screen again.

"This one has about 10 pounds off C-4 in it, plus a gasoline tank for an aftermath no one will forget." He said, all giddy, like this wasn't killing anyone at all. I sighed, because it wouldn't work. They knew the time frame by now, they would get out.

"And did I forget to let you know...I've got a suicide bomber in there. I gave him something so he couldn't feel pain and told him to lock himself and another person in there "by accident"" He said, putting up some really sarcastic air-quotes. That's duly noted, mostly because using air-quotes is completely foreign to me.

"How will he even know when it goes off?" I ask and I still can't believe I'm having a conversation with a monster.

"Simple. this time the beeping will go off 15 seconds before it detonates." He says, and presses the bottom.

"Now, shush. The show is starting." He says, and we bring our attention to the screen.

* * *

><p>"This is Montoya. I'm at the central pillar. What next?" She says very silently, knowing that the bomb is most likely in there. She already knows how bad it could be to just be at the door, since Richards...<p>

"The Joker is planning on setting it off. It's obvious he's not here and it will take a while for it to detonate. It would be best to leave right now." Gordon said easily. Montoya looked around, two of them were about 10 feet from the back door and ready to bolt. One man, bless his soul, stayed close to her, as if ready to grab her and get her out if necessary. She smiled at him awkwardly and he looked down and away. She perceived it as him being embarrassed and coughed a little.

_beep-beep-beep-beep_

The two others were already out and Montoya and the other man dashed to the door that had just closed. The man kicked the door but the glass broke and he fell back into her. Montoya closed her eyes with the last beep. _Sorry...Richards._

**BOOM!**

* * *

><p>I screamed, I really truly did. I had expected two more people but it just blew. I'm sure my brother was close to tears, but since it was impossible for me to do that kind of thing, I just gasped after the fact. Joker was laughing so hard, I'm sure he was holding his sides seriously.<p>

"She's dead! Oh Shit! Excuse my French. They are under that rubble! Well, it seems our fun has ended. I guess I'll get my money and you'll go home...maybe." He said after thinking and got a bag.

"What's inside of that?" I asked lightly and he didn't answer mumbling about extras and taking out these things that were like bricks and wires together. I inhaled sharply, knowing it was a bomb. Then, there was a loud bang, erupting from behind us. I turned around to see who it was but before I could Dick was hit with a bat. He feel face first and I grabbed him to soften his fall and looked up to see someone hit me with the same object in the face. Here's that brain overdrive thing, finally on my side. I couldn't feel anything at all. I sprang up and grabbed the bat, snaking my legs around the attackers full arm with as much force as I could apply. He let go of the bat as his arm started to turn red. He shook his arm and I tumbled down, taking the bat into my hand and defiantly holding it while in front of my brother.

"Who are-" I inhaled sharply after finally getting a good look at his face, contorted in anger. Tony Zucco. I leaned backwards minimally to get my brother's hands and tried my best to move him back as I tried to go in the same direction.

"You killed my mom and dad...Why?" I said, stopping myself in that spot. He held his arm, cradling it with the undamaged one and swore. However, he made a small chuckle at seeing my fear-stricken face.

"What do you think? This is Gotham, sweetheart! A place where only the strong and smart will survive. Thing is, where do you fit in?" He said before taking out a knife. I stared a little bit more and realized he had a gun too.

He launched at me and I bolted, running to the back of the warehouse, not understanding what exactly was going on, but I just didn't want to die.

"I will survive! Just watch me, and you...you'll be the one to die." I said, somewhat mocking his speech pattern. I looked around for something to use. I had spotted a few chains littered around by the east side and ran to it while he chased me at a slower pace. When I got there, I threw the bat at him with the best accuracy I could give at that time and picked up the chains. They were hefty but throw able, since I had some strength training back at the circus. I threw them intricately, remembering the magic tricks that make it simple to tie and untie metal. He wasn't watching me closely so when it snaked around him he fell to the ground as if unexpectedly.

I picked up the bat and swung it once, since the blood was really pounding in my ears. I hit him in the head and it was an instant K-O. I fell back easily, groaning from the pain I had suppressed while doing all this. I almost cried, knowing that I had taken down my parents killer. But this was different, I would never cry again, once was surely enough. Then I heard clapping in the distance. Everything was starting to get foggy, and very blanch at the same time. Just different spot were clear and others were blurry and red looking.

"How unexpected! A small seven year old child being able to take out a mob boss. See what happens when you don't work out." He said, cackling and setting the bomb for two minutes.

"This time...And Just This ONCE." He started, stating clearly a "never again" vibe. "I will leave you here. There's a way out, which I am taking. It's like this...they don't know when the bomb will go off, and they're trying to get you out. Don't know what'll happen but I'm leaving four million dollars so this better be good. See you soon, and if there's a next time...I'll bleed you dry." He said, turning on the timer and leaving through where we had entered before. I tried to stand but fell down, and knew running might just be futile. I crawled over to Dick and grabbed his collar, dragging the both of us to the front door. I made myself stand through utter will power and ran to get the bat while glancing at the clock.

_0:59_

I took the bat and swung at the door,making a small dent in the door. I kept going and dropped the bat when there was no answer and started pounding on the door as I heard the rattling of the chains in the back. Zucco was escaping but I really had no time to worry about that. Then, I heard a pounding at the door.

_0:25_

"Alex! Richard! Can you hear me!" Bruce said, and I pounded twice in some type of relief. The door opened and police came inside, dragging both of us out and running us away.

_0:01_

_**BOOM!**  
><em>

Everything blew apart and I mean everything, windows, doors, paper, even the dirt went up in response to the immensity of the bomb. Everyone around me shook and whoever was holding me fell. I looked up and tried to breath in the clean air but coughed hard. I looked over and caught a hint of my brothers face. I smiled lightly and watched the ambulance pull up and put us on stretchers until I grabbed their arm.

'She's got a strong pulse! And a good grip too." The person who's arm I had grabbed said and he made a small smile while putting me in the ambulance.

"Where's the lady? The one in the other place?" I asked and he looked for some approval from the person in charge.

"They recovered her and another from the rubble. The male is dead and Montoya is still breathing, that's all I know." He said as I went unconscious.

* * *

><p>"Hey Alex, you should wake up." Dick said, while sitting at my side on the hospital bed. I groan and look around slowly at who's in the room. All I see is Bruce and an older man, wearing some variation of a trench coat and a police badge. Cliche, much? I stare at them until they realize I'm awake.<p>

"Are you all right?" Bruce asks, instantly at my side, which is very wierd but at the same time comforting so it's allowed.

"I guess." I say, and my voice is totally wrong. It's more hoarse now, like my screaming really took a toll on me or something.

"Um, this is the Police Commissioner, . He has some questions for you, since Richard can't remember much. You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Bruce said and I nodded, not willing to say that I would answer them all regardless since I can't forget anything.

"All right then, can you remember any key things the Joker had said that might help me in any way? For some reason, he let you all go with, in his case, minimal injuries, can you tell me why?" He said, coughing just a little.

"He said that since I beat Zucco, I might just be able to escape. Bfore that, he was talking about a suicide bomber locking himself in with the police lady to have a casualty but I don't think it would work because he decided against it at the last second and tried to get the lady out. Then he was talking about this code to get the...C-4." I said, and both of them leaned forward, as if what I was saying shouldn't be true.

"DO you remember...the code, I mean?" Gordon says, and I nod because it doesn't really affect me if they know.

"Its 967...46r5h6...c532." I said slowly, pretending like it took me a long time to remember exactly what the number was. Gordon wrote it down quickly and looked at me, expecting more.

"Um...the numbers have to be grouped as if you were solving an algebraic problem. That's all I heard from him." I said, becoming seriously interested with the sheets on the bed. Gordon murmured his goodbyes and left, leaving me with Dick and Bruce.

"I wanted to say...I'm sorry. Being my wards guaranteed that something like this would happen. I can't say I regret bringing you guys into my home, but I do regret not being able to protect you." He said, clenching his hands. I was at a loss for words, which is very uncommon for a person like me but there was only one loose end.

"What happened to Zucco? Did he get away?" I asked and Bruce shook for no. I'm guessing he tried to run with the chains on him and didn't get far enough.

"This is actually something I wanted to talk to you about. When the paramedics assessed your condition, they said you were dying. How could you have tied him down in that much pain?" He asked and I sighed. I would need a good excuse...or the best excuse of all.

"I don't know. Adrenaline, I guess. Fight or flight, and I chose the first." I said, and he asked no more questions.

"On another note, I was shown the records in the security cameras installed in the house the day you were...taken. You were looking at the clock...why?" He said and I remained passive, as if he hadn't said anything that might just get me in trouble.

"It looked really nice, I guess. I wanted to know how it worked, it different pulley systems among other things." I said and Dick nodded, ending that conversation too. We were 2-2, on our way out of here.

"Am I getting discharged soon. I want to go...home." I said, and Bruce looked at my chart.

"Well,I could ask for you. The only thing that could be keeping you here is the gash on your leg, but I think I could handle this." He said, leaving the hospital room.

* * *

><p>So I had to stay in the hospital for one more day and then we left, going through the back to escape from all the reporters and stuff. Because of my injury, they let us eat whatever we wanted. It was pretty nice, but it didn't beat Bruce reading us book to go to sleep. Thank God he wasn't exactly prepared for us or he would've have wasted his money buying something our age, like Goldilocks or some craziness. Bruce grows on you though, and he is pretty weird at some-<p>

"Up we go!" HE said unexpectedly, lifting me up and swinging me around a bit. See what I mean, just plain weird. I laughed out loud, mostly because my dad used to do the same thing back then.

"You can put me down now!" I say when he spins me around while walking. He stops and starts up again, which feels awesome but I was actually in some deep thought so it would be best if he stopped this. I heard Dick giggle somewhere after the tenth spin so I kept laughing...and I flipped right out of his grasp. His expression was pretty funny; mostly a "I don't know exactly what happened" vibe came from him. I retied my converses and ran outside , right into the big backyard we had previously seen on other travels throughout the house. We did only a few cartwheels while exploring the huge landscape and saw some people standing by the gate. Dick took my hand and looked at me, waiting for me to nod and say I wanted to go. But who could say no to his pout? No one, exactly. So now we're on one side and they're on the other, just smiling at us.

"Hi." I say, very controlled like, creating this illusion that II didn't mind seeing people I didn't even know hanging out around me. One lady, with brown hair(it looked sort of dyed) came closer to us.

""Hi. You guys are the twins, aren't you? The ones Wayne took in? Well, I was wondering...what's it like in there?" She said, and it was like a mute crowd all around us, waiting for our answer. I know it was only like 10 people there but still, very quiet.

"Well, he's a really good person, from what we see. He's not mean, and he knows exactly what to say sometimes. He's just...one of the nicest people I've ever met." Dick said, and I nodded before pulling him back.

"I think we should head back. I don't think Bruce even knows we went over her so he might get worried."

"What will he do if he gets worried!" Some one said out loud. Another silence, waiting for an answer. I think a camera focused on my face at that point, I'm not really sure. I already knew what I looked like on that camera, the cutest kid in the world( how ridiculous).

"Same as before. He'll look through every room in the house, thinking about every possible bad thing that could have happened while we were gone. He'll think about how he could have protected us, kept us safe and how he is doing a bad job being our parent. Then,he'll find us and pretend like he wasn't worried at all, even though we could see it. Then...he'll go looking for all of you." I say, smiling before turning around and running with Dick. We go so fast inside the house that we pass right by Bruce.

"Hey! Don't trip!" HE says, and I snort because of how bad his parenting is. I stop and go back to him, shaking my head.

"What was that? "Don't trip"I say, mocking him in a casual manner." You're supposed to tell us to stop running or something. Shape up Bruce, we'll be here for a while." He smiles, Dick smiles, even Alfred steps out of wherever he was hiding (I couldn't see him so he's hiding)and we just smile. It one of those "Silence is Golden" moments that we will probably share many times, I again, my mind works at a fast pace, I'm always putting in my best effort to be ahead of when everyone's smiling, and going to sleep, possibly thing about the next day, I believe that Dick thinks the only thing going on in my mind right now is Bruce. But really, I'm making my next plan for when Bruce is at work and me and Dick are alone again.

That Weird Clock.

* * *

><p>You already know what this means so just review any pointers.<p> 


	11. Calm Before The Storm

It was one thing for us to have to attend charity functions with Bruce. It was a whole other thing when it coincided with my plan to investigate that clock. It had been almost 3 weeks since the incident which meant I was just taking my time with all of this. It may have taken me a while but I was finally able to regain all the mobility I had before the Joker cut my leg. Anyway, I was talking about the charity thing. So, they're having this thing about illegally immigrated children next month that we might attend, but today there's one at a ballroom in Gotham, the nice part. I'm being forced to go , which is pretty mean, I mean I'm basically crippled.

"You are not crippled, I would know based on your little stunt with the clothing rack yesterday." Bruce said, raising an eyebrow at me quickly and I shrugged my shoulders. Okay , so maybe I swung around a bit, and had some airtime but that was expected, it runs in the family. I looked at the bed and crossed my arms putting out the leg that was bandaged and frowned. turned him

"I don't want to wear a dress." I said simply, and glared at the thing. It was nice, that was what any living human being would say when they looked at it, but I hated it. Dresses were not my thing, jeans and converses were the only way. Bruce stared at me and I did the same. It went on for about 4 minutes before I sighed and decided to let him win. He had heart and dedication, can't deny it.

"Thank You, we'll leave in 30 minutes. When you get there, you'll most definitely hate it, but you may find someone who'll act somewhat decent when talking to you." He said, making me laugh at his truthful expression. There really would be no other type of person like Bruce in this world, would there? I glared at the pink, lightly sparkled dress and relunctantly put it on with some ballet slippers. After that, I wasted my 30 minutes listening to Nirvana and Green Day while brushing my hair. I raced to the limo in front of the house and got there 2 minutes before Bruce and Richard(who refused to be called anything else by people he didn't like while at the party) and the limo took off.

"You look nice, Alex." Dick said, snickering at my glare. I sighed and patted my leg, which was still covered in gauze. I wondered if I could do any running so it would bleed. Then,I wouldn't look so...unlike me. I can handle dresses, but only dresses that reflected me. Then again, wearing black to a charity fnction at 7 years old isn't a good thing. We stopped in front of the Roseland Ballroom and Bruce moved towards the door.

"There are a lot of cameras here so try your best to ignore the sounds. Just smile and walk in with me. None of them will hassle you...I hope." He said and we stepped out into the scariest thing I've ever seen. It just looked like bright light...everywhere. I held by brother's hand and we made a small smile for them until we got inside the Ballroom. It was beautiful, without a doubt. It had that subtle elegance that most places really couldn't pull off. When we came in a lot of people became quiet, their eyes trained on me and my brother. There were a lot of tables scattered around the large lobby-like room and Bruce guided us to one where only one person was seated.

"I've got to go talk to some people. If you need anything, you can go get it, but be sure to come back here. If anyone asks you to go anywhere, say that you're waiting for me, okay?" We both nod and he walks away slowly while I focus on the person on the other side of the table. He has yellow hair and a beard. He looks like he's strong but he's hiding it with a shirt a tad bit big for him.

"Hi, I'm Alexandra and this is Richard my brother...but you already knew that, right?" I said, going over to him and putting out a hand, he looked at me with his light green eyes and smiled, taking my hand. We did a small shake and my brother proceeded to do the same before we sat down.

"My name's Queen, Oliver Queen, and I probaly just sounded like James Bond. SO, how's life treating you with Wayne?" He asked passively, like he was more interested than he let on.

"Life's good, Bruce is all smiles and stuff, like lollipops and rainbows. Why you need to know?" I said, in the same tone as him and he laughed...hard.

"You're just like him. Hopefully not fully." He muttered under his breath and picked up again. "Well, they have a lot of desserts you can eat here. You should go and get some. But stay close to each other. Reporters always go after people who are alone." He says as we get up per his instructions.

"I wanted to know...Who are you?"

"A friend of Bruce, that's all.' He said, and I smiled before departing.

"Bye...Uncle Queen." Dick said, and he guided me to the table full of cookies. If I wasn't in full control of my self, there would have been saliva on the floor just inhaling from 4 feet away. We took, ate walked away minimally before repeating the cycle before I felt like going to the bathroom. I told Dick that he should go back to the table and wait for me there and walk away, looking for some hint of a place to go. There was a big spiral staircase wit some ladies coming out of a door about a foot away from it and I caught a glimpse of the inside. I closed my eyes, re imaging the scene and focused on it, seeing that it really was a bathroom. I guess my mind really could be a lifesaver when it wanted to be.

"Hey, you're one of those Grayson kids, the ones adopted by Wayne, right?" A man asked from behind me. I turned around to see some type of cliche reporter and I almost rolled my eyes.

"Don't know, I don't think they were officially adopted, maybe you should go ask Wayne.'"I said, starting on the steps before he grabbed my arm to turn me around. I tripped and hit my leg on the edge of the step before pulling back my arm.

"Don't kid with me, your faces are all over the papers. I'll never get a chance like this again, now can I ask you some questions?" He said, and I nodded, crossing my arms. If Bruce saw him grab me, the guy would be dead, no doubt. Bruce thinks we can't tell he's always in the exercise room, and if he got no strength from all those chin-ups, there's no hope for the military.

"I don't have much time so I'll just say all the questions and you'll give me the answers afterwards. First, does Bruce do anything...bad to either of you? Does he act the same way he is to us inside his house? How often do you see him? Are you planning on being more involved in the media? Lastly, do you think Bruce will change?" He says and looks at me with some weird eager expression.

"Alright, well no, no, every day at breakfast and 2 hours before dinner is when he comes home, I have no idea and if you don't think he's a good person then he'll probably change. Can I go now, I'm...looking for someone." I say, and race up the stairs, even though it really hurts my leg. I bet it's bleeding right now, and it's all that guys fault. I get into the bathroom, finally.

When I'm done, I realize why Bruce always uses the bathroom at home. It's like a madhouse in there. All those ladies getting all pretty to impress one guy, who was probably Bruce. It put me off to no end but who could blame them, when his net worth was in the billions. Then again, someone like Bruce wouldn't go for that type of person anyway, he's not that stupid. I get to the table and sit down quietly, wanting the world to go away.

"What happened to you?" Dick said, worried at my expression. I don't give much away often but he's known me since birth so I can't hide much from him.

"Stupid reporter and his stupid questions. I can seriously feel my leg bleeding right now because he wouldn't leave me alone. If I ever see him again, I'm going to find anyone in Gotham who will do an illegal castration, and this is Gotham, there has to be someone." I say and Queen starts snickering at me. It's almost annoying to the point where it feels like he acts like he already knew us. Then a guy in red hair comes up to him, all angry like somethings been messing with him for a while.

"Queen, I really don't know why you had to bring me here but I'd rather be home, alright?" He says and I nod because I would have been saying the same thing to Bruce. He looks like he's only 10 or maybe 11 which is a whole lot more than me. Then, he takes the seat next to mine and takes out some headphones.

"You mind?" He say, looking at me with a bored expression. IT's like he's asking me if I mind if he smokes around me or something, the way he lazily say that. It's rude...and I realize he's the only normal person here.

"As long as it's not pop, I'm cool." I say, and he smirk as I unmistakably hear the opening to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" After a while, I start to sing along.

"With the lights out, It's less dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us. i feel stupid and contagious, Here we are now, entertain us." I say and the same guy looks at me like I just had kittens before he shuts the music off.

"You know Nirvana? It's like 5 years before your birth." He says and I give him a look close to the same as his.

'It's before your birth too. Nevermind came out in, what 1994. You aren't that old...I don't even know your name." I say and he makes a small laugh while Uncle Queen is just surprised that the kid can laugh. When we get home, I'm going to ask Bruce to adopt the kid.

"My name's Roy, and I already know your name, Alexandra. Eh, this place, well all these places, I just hate them so much." He says and i nod because he looked uncomfortable since I saw him. I straighten up in the chair and loosen his tie until he looks like a formal delinquent, which is pretty cool, if i may add.

"Then make your own style when you arrive. This is my first one and I just feel like strangling someone. Atleast your dad is with you." I say, and he lights up a little.

"Yeah, I mean no. Sorry, but he's my foster father. Like you guys with Bruce." He say and everything goes dark around at out table. It's like we all flipped the switch to emo and there's no way off getting it off that part before Dick speaks.

"We're lucky aren't we...to be alive. If we all seem to share this one thing in common, then we share one other. We survived...through everything. Death, loss, pain...it all strikes everyone...but we're surviving, and I think our parents would be proud of us for that." Dick says, and I give him a big hug while smiling, and it's like all the pressure goes away.

"Well then big brother, use your light ninja ways to grab as many snacks from that table in 3 minutes and we'll keep talking with this awesome people. Then, we'll talk to Bruce about stealing Roy." I say and Uncle Queen and Roy's eyebrows shoot up at the same time, it's almost adorable. Dick gets back in a record 2 minutes with a big load of sweets. He divides them among everyone as Bruce comes up to the table looking like he just went toe-to-toe with Godzilla.

"They're...evil." He says and Queen pats him on the back a few times, earning him a glare he thought we wouldn't see and an instant retraction.

"Hey Bruce, can we keep Roy?" I ask, in the middle of one of my cakes. Queen almost chokes, Roy's eyes widen and Dick just goes along, all sugar-happy.

"Ask Queen, I didn't adopt Roy. And Roy is his own person, don't talk as if he's a thing." Bruce says, giving me a sideways glance that translated to "Where are you going with this"

"Roy will say yes because when your not home it's lonely so he must be lonely too. Uncle Queen won't object because he can't say no to kids, that hurts their feelings and weakens their emotional state." I say and I welcome everyone except for Dick to look at me as if I have two heads. I like to read, my IQ will in turn be high, comprende. DO I look like I'm reading Cat In The Hat?

"If I go over to your house, will you teach me how to glare like he does? That was sort of...awesome.' he say and Dick nods forcefully.

"I know right. He never like that at home. I've already got it down for when anyone who is mean to me." He say and he imitates the glare close to perfect which is what scares everyone the most. He's a mini Bruce, lord help us.

"Alright, let's go home. I'll bring him by next week." Queen said as we all got up to go back through the media and get our respective limos so we could go home.

Dick was out for the count was he hit the seat, sleeping on Bruce's lap while I forced myself to get into the house on my own willpower. Bruce put Dick into bed and came in to check on me.

"Hey Bruce." I said sleepily, and he crouched by my bed, making a lazy smile.

"Yeah, what's on your mind?" he said.

"Puteţi de Wally vină terminat cand vorba Roy." I said and he looked as confused as ever until I realized my mistake.

"Can Wally come over when Roy comes?" I say and Bruce gives me a kiss on the forehead.

"Sure." He says before leaving the room.

* * *

><p>"Next time you'll learn to speak when your spoken to!" He growled, pushing me into my room as I ran trying to get away from his beer drench breath.<p>

"Rudolph stop! Please! Don't-" A sound occurred and there was no more noise until my room door crashed open and I was lifted into the air. I crashed down and struggled to move away.

Another punch came to my stomach leveling me to the ground. I hazily looked up to see my father's boot as it slams downs on my rib, definitely bruised. I hear my mother screaming in the distance and after a minute, the door slams and I'm alone again. I choked on my sobs, wishing I could go back to Uncle Barry's house for the night, or at least go to Alex and Dick's house. That place is so safe...so very warm and safe. Say goodnight Wally because you may never wake up.

* * *

><p>I crawled out of bed at almost 10:00 in the morning and grabbed the home phone that had been placed in the living room and called Wally's house. Thank God he gave it to me before he left the last time in secret. Now,I could make sure he's free so I don't feel bad if Uncle Barry tells me he can't come.<p>

"He- Hello." I heard and I felt my heart break from the way he said it. He sounded like Dick when we he got hit with the-

"Wally, it's me Alex. Are you okay?" A pause. A deep breath and an entire life seemed to pass by before he answered.

"I'm fine. Do you want me to come over to your house or something?" He said, and he sounded happier then ever as he said it.

"Yeah, your uncle's probably going to ask your mom if you can come. Whenever you can come, we'll be waiting." And I'll have to get Roy to figure out what's going on. He's older, he'll be able to figure out what's going on.

"Thank you so much. I-I have to go! Bye!"He says, and I hear a yell before the connections cut off.

"Bruce!" I screech and no one comes. I run in every room and see that the only ones home are Dick and Alfred. They look worried at my facial expression but I calm down and carry on with life until Bruce gets home at 6:00. We all sit at the table and I take a few glances at him while eating.

"What's wrong, Alex?" He says, and I sigh loudly, making no move to answer for a little.

"Bruce, is it bad to feel like you want to kill a person?" I ask and he drops his fork before picking it back up.

"Depends on what they did." Bruce mutters as Alfred gasps with a little pinch of sarcasm.

"Master Bruce, don't say such things to the child. Miss Alexandra, what made yo think about this?" He asks before taking my finished plate to be washed. Yeah, I eat fast too.

'I called Wally today and he sounded...off." I settled on that word before twisting my hands.

"What do you mean? How did he sound like that?" Dick asked, leaning to look at me.

"He sounded like...how you did when you got beat up." I said silently as Bruce wiped his mouth and stood from the table stiffly before leaning over and looking us dead in the eye, his voice taking on a dangerous tone.

"Can you remember anything that would suggest that this has happened before?" He asked taking out his phone.

"When he came over the last time, he blacked out while Dick went to the bathroom. I called him and he started yelling "I'm sorry" a couple of times and...for a second I thought he was crying." I said before Bruce walked away, probably talking to Uncle Barry before he dashed out of the house.

* * *

><p>"That's your child! Your flesh and blood! How could you do that to him!" Flash yelled, throwing down Rudolph and commencing to punch him in the face multiple times before Bruce came in pulled him off, dragging him away with his hands behind his head as Rudolph staggered to a stand, blood splattered on his face.<p>

"Don't even speak, the police are outside. We'll go check on Wally." Bruce said, still dragging Barry, bringing him up the stairs as the police proceeded to bring Rudolph outside the house and into a cop car. They stood outside Wally's door, listening to his small choking sobs. _If Alex called at 10:00 and he was hurt, how many hours..._ Bruce thought before opening the door slightly.

"Wally, it's me Bruce. Can I come in?" He said softly,briefly noting the pause in the sound on the other side. Barry and Bruce stepped in quietly and took in a sharp gasp at the same time, seeing Wally's immobile form on the bedroom floor.

"Wally, Are you okay?" Barry asked and turned him over to lift him up and gently touched the black eye that had been placed there. No words were exchanged as he brought his nephew to the ambulance.

* * *

><p>Bruce didn't tell us anything about what happened the day before when he left to go see Wally. We didn't ask either, knowing it wasn't or business to know. Bruce only told us that we might not see Wally for a while, depending on what the future holds. However, it was time to go through with the plan. We waited for everyone to be asleep before going to the clock and I turned the dial to the time it was at that confused me the most.<p>

Then, the clock opened, yes I'm sure I took my medication, there is no way I could be unsure.

"SO, you want to go in first or...' Dick proposed and I stepped in, Dick coming in after me. I closed my eyes and covered my ears as we seemed to descend into the ground. When it stopped, Dick grabbed my hands and brought me into a place with a cold draft which is when I opened my eyes.

It looked like a high tech cave, which is why there were bats on the ceiling. We walked around slowly taking in the huge computer, the boxing ring, trophy cases that different villains possessions. I didn't want to say anything about what I was seeing until we heard footsteps. Dick grabbed me and we ran silently to hide behind a huge pillar.

Batman. Batman lived underneath our house, how awesome was that? Of course we couldn't tell Bruce because then Batman would get evicted or something. He looked hurt though and there was blood on his hand. Then he went to where we entered and disappeared. We waited for 5 minutes before going the same way he did and crashing into our beds. THere was no way we would be able to talk about what exactly happened that night.

* * *

><p>Watchtower<p>

"How is he?" Batman said gruffly, sitting by Flash, which would usually be okay except for the fact that this was the cafeteria and Batman was never in the cafeteria...EVER.

"In which way. Kid's shut down, not talking to anyone at all. They say he's got 4 bruised rib, previous breaks, bruised...everything. I don't even know what to do anymore. But when I talk about him seeing those two again, his face lights up like it's Christmas or something. I told him how they got you to figure it out and everything so that has a hand in it all." He says and Batman passes him a letter. Flash doesn't open it because he already knows what's inside. Everyone else just watches this scene evolve, not understanding anything because they aren't let in on what's going on in their lives.

"He can come by tomorrow if he wants, no problem." Batman said, exiting the cafeteria which had their eyes trained on his back as he left. Then Flash hesitantly opened the letter.

_350,000 dollars._

* * *

><p>"Wally's coming over today, and so is Roy. Don't destroy my house and Dick...take care of your sister." Bruce said and I retained a scoff, that seemed to come out involuntarily. He raised an eyebrow before departing. As he left, I took a look outside...storm clouds. Bring on the nightmares.<p>

Me and Dick just move the couch and order 8 large pizzas as Wally come in after Roy had been here for about 20 minutes. We all talk about music after both of them get acquainted with each other. Then, as we're sit in silence to eat Wally speaks up.

"You guys, thanks so much for what you did. I...Well, you guys saved my life." He said, and is suddenly focused on the pizza. Roy raises his eyebrow slightly and I want to reach over and change his face before Wally sees it, but he does.

"My dad-a large sigh is given as he instinctively hold his stomach- used to hit me...a lot. I couldn't tell anyone or he'd...he'd kill my mom. The guys figured it out somehow and told my uncle, who got me out of there. They're switching custody to my aunt and him now."He said, and Roy's face had twisted in disgust at the mention of child abuse. Then, he patted Wally on the back softly before turning on his back.

'Sometimes, I just want to hate the world for things like this. But the more I think about it, we're going to be the best of friends, you know. We can...understand each other, I guess. On a better level then our...guardians can. How sick is that, that we all have guardians. That 3 of us have had our parents killed and you had horrible ones, minus your mom, but you've got to help her out now. I'm babbling to you all, even though you are just kids. I'm older so you are _kids _-he says teasing me for the scoff I made- but we're actually older than our years. We have experienced the worst of the world..as like Dick says, we survived.

"Alright, this is too depressing. What do you guys want to do when you grow up?"

"Hero."

"Hero, like Flash."

"Doctor, Lawyer, and Physicist at NASA."I am received by gaping mouths,like what, a seven year old can't dream. Then a groan deeply and stare down.

"If my brother actually became a hero or something, I'd do the same but I'd infiltrate the bad side to get better information and stuff. You know, I think me and my brother could do it. If we got the strength for it, we'd be fine." I said, crossing my arms.

"I'm good in science, better than anyone else. My uncle a forensic scientist, I think I could lead him along so I could get the formula for how Flash became Flash." Wally say and it makes sense, but I could already feel we were doing the wrong thing here, wanting to become heroes.

"I'm good with the bow, extremely good. I'll start going to some archery expos and refine my skill, make it so Green Arrow has to notice." He says in a somewhat amused tone and I think we should get some things settled.

"What about names? Mine is going to be Raven, the nickname my mom gave me." I said, and we all gave the names we thought would befit us.

"Robin."

"Kid Flash."

"I don't exactly know. Can you guys make one for me?" Roy said sheepishly and i didn't give it a thought.

"We should focus more on the hero thing. We could always make names later. So the plans solid. We should make a pact though, like, We will always stick together, no matter where this road takes us, if we quit we will come back if it is a rescue mission for another member and we will never forget the bond we are making today. Agreed?" I said, and Roy, Wally and Dick made a chorus of "Agreed" as we bumped fists. Me and Dick showed them some tricks, aeriels and such, doing things that probably didn't look humanly possible.

"You should probably add Olympic gymnast to your list of things that you can achieve at." Roy said asstonished as we stopped and ate. We laughed and talk and listened to music until Roy and Wally had to go home and we were left alone in the house. Alfred had actually went out of the country to see his great something or other, and he would be back in the early morning. So all was quiet in the dark manor until the rain started pouring heavily, making faint outlines in the world outside as I had gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to watch with rapt attention.

_CRASH!_

The lightning flashed easily, illuminating the scene in front of me as I stared at the grounds and screamed at the sight in front of me. I couldn't understand what exactly it was I was seeing, but I knew it was coming here. All I could see from that flash...was a dark figure.

Burglar...Kidnapper...Or I had fallen into the E.T movie, they all made no sense as I grabbed my robe and sandals to race down the stairs and go out the back door, being taken in by the harsh rains battering my face and arms...God, I could already feel a bruise on my arm. I stared at the ground, looking for some hint of a person until I saw it. THe cape with the figure of a out stretched bat carved out and I knew I was looking at Batman. I crouched down by him and tried unsuccessfully to turn him over. There was nothing I could really do except make sure he had air to breath until he stirred and started to mumble.

"Doctor...bullets..."He had said, and I looked at my hands, which had know been covered in the crimson substance.I could have shaken it off but I was just so horrified at it all it put me back in a trance.

_Mom..._

Why did that have to be the first person I associate with blood? I tried to pull Batman, which was really stupid in the long run, and was able to get him to the door.I tried to walk him inside, occasionally glaring up at the sky. Thunder ripped the sky subtly, nowhere near loud enough to shake things hanging on walls but still intense enough to frighten a child.I finally got him inside and turned him over, wincing as I had elicited a groan from him. As I closed the door,the rain began to beat down harder and the thunder groaned louder as it caught up with the flashes of lightning. I stared at the rushes of water and sighed. At least I could be thankful that I hadn't been caught in _that_.

'Alright, we have to be very quiet while I get you home, we can't get you in any trouble." I say, and he regains some type of control over himself and I'm able to help him up the stairs to the clock. I changed the hands and am able to get him down to the cave easily before he starts to cough...from what, I may never know. But there was blood, droplets left behind that I would have to clean after I had helped him. I was able to get him to the place where he most likely treats himself and got him to lay down.

"Now- I-I don't know exactly...I can't call Bruce, can I- No, I won't!" I say as he inhales sharply and I grab the large storage container for medical supplies and took out different things, a scalpel, tweezers, syrines with a type of anesthetic and a basin with a bit of water.

"So...I'm thinking you're about to fall asleep. So I'l just use this knife to cut it open and there won't be a problem..yeah." I said while he sank into unconsciousness. I cut it open and got everything except for the mask, there was no way I would want to know that.

"SO, you won't feel much after this, but I'm not giving you enough to put you out forever." I said before plunging the needle into his wrist I made a tourniquet after ripping part of his costume and placed it about the...bullet wound, I guessed, from how the size of it wasn't large. I put the scalpel and tweezers in there gently and was able to retrieve it easily, dropping it inside with a soft plunk that as inaudible to Batman. Then I stitched it and wrapped it. I wrapped his ankle, which was pretty easy to do. I checked his ribs, and stitched a small puncture wound there before looking in the mirror at myself. I looked aghast, like a ghost of myself, pale with no color. It was the blood, which was all on the front of me now, and It scared the living mess out of me. I put up my hands and

"What-"

"I'm sorry!" I said, hearing his voice from behind me and falling into a heap on the floor, trying to throw my hands up in mock surrender. I would've died right then, knowing that Batman was right in my face and knew that I knew his secret.

"I won't tell Bruce or anyone...except for my brother, because he'll know, anyway. I can't- I don't want to go anywhere. Of course I could get away right now." He raises an eyebrow that I look over.

"But you'll find me! I don't want to lose my new family...Ever." I finish with a hard expression and Batman groans before laying back down.

"Okay. Me and my brother will come back to check on you in...a night or so. Try to be careful and get to a hospital or something. I...Gotham still needs you around, you don't have a partner to take over or anything." I mumble and he's still silent, so I take my chance.

"You know...me and my brother could help- not with the fighting and stuff I'm sure, but we could help. I could take care of your research part. Maybe you could teach us something too. I was going to ask Bruce if he could teach us but wouldn't I just look stupid? Asking the person who, on top of saving my life, is giving me food and shelter to take some time off work to teach me stuff that is far beyond my age? I mean, my IQ's almost to 100 by now, what else do I need at the moment?" I say before starting to walk away. I take it slow, not wanting to do anything to upset the man. I take it real slow...

Then brake for it when I'm out of sight, like a bat out of hell...Ah, look at the sad humor I just thought there. I went into the make shift supply room and got out the brushes and a bottle of cleaner and started to clean all traces of Batman in the house. Even went outside and made sure everything was gone. When it was finally gone, I got into my room, passing the window and...

* * *

><p>It was a shriek, an awe-inspiring, shock inducing, award-winning yell that had escaped from the mouth of my brother.<p>

"ALEX!" It could have been more deep I think, if he at least wanted to keep his dignity as a male of the species. I lurched up and he tripped back into the wall, his breath came out in an involuntary gasp and I took his hand firmly after getting up to drag him into the bathroom and heard Alfred and Bruce charge in looking around for something amiss.

"Miss Alexandra...Is everything alright?"He said and I could hear the door open as I started to have a hard coughing fit. They found me with my hands braced on the toilet seat, leaning over it, breathing deeply in through my nose and out through my mouth. At first, I was just trying to con them but...now I was really sick.

"Alex,what's wrong?" Bruce had asked silently and I moved my hands behind me easily before coughing again, wheezing just a little. Jesus Christ, this was insane. I was getting one of those evil colds that wouldn't go away for days.

"Just a bad cold. I'll come down later, okay. Just...ugh." I say and they don't make any sound of objection as they depart. I wait for the click of my room door before telling Dick in hushed tones which could have made him yell if he wasn't quiet enough.

"SO we'll check on him tomorrow, right? This is awesome, but at the same time scary."Dick said outside my door, I needed to wash off the blood...the clothes would have to be burned.

"Yeah, I'm taking some benadryl and my pills right now so...take things one at a time."I say, using the benadryl as water when I take it. The medicines are okay to take together so there's no problem I leave the room easily, not looking at the Warning label.

Warning: Taking certain medicines with this substance will render the medicines neutral.

* * *

><p>Sorry for the wait, hope the longer chapter makes you okay with me. I just got the sickness of my life, so now I'm making Alex sicker than ever to get over this.<p> 


	12. Take Care

I'm leaving you with a 10,000 worded chapter. i don't know if it'll be too much but I might do it again and see how it turns out for all of you. I wanted to address the things I didn't expand on and It made sense after a read a very helpful review. I'll try to explain all of it in this chapter atleast but I will let you know before hand why I'm waiting so long for Bruce to know about the pills. I waiting for the most terrible way for him to know. Maybe a death scenario or an accidental confession she couldn't help. I'll just make it so everyone can understand.

* * *

><p>I'm absolutely sure of the reason for my sickness. Since I'm correct...I'm surely going to die. I was out of pills, my cold was only because of the rain yesterday and I felt better after I took that shower ad Benadryl. Bruce wasn't here, but I knew he would be coming home soon. Ever since we started living here, I knew a day like this would come. The day when I would have to tell Bruce about what was wrong with me. That day would have to come soon because the longer I don't tell him, the more he'll believe I don't trust him when I do. Maybe I could ask Batman about that, the thing called trust.<p>

"Alex? You okay?" Dick says with a frown etched on his face and he looks minutes away from calling Uncle B to cancel Wally's visit. I should just call Mike, right? He was the reason I was getting my meds anyway, passing them to Dick once a month in some secret way I'll never know.

"I'll call Mike. Bruce won't ask if I make the call less than 30 seconds, then no one can trace it. Or...we steal from Batman, your choice." I laid on the floor, feeling the need to finally give up life before I got the phone and put in the familiar 's been 10 hours since I last had pills, so I'll probably lose it in...2 hours. I needed those pills, this had to count as an emergency. I could say I made the wrong call and that the person on the line was asking me who exactly I was because they had just woken up and had no idea of what was going on.

"Hey Alex, you still need that stuff, right?" He said and I sighed, he knew what this all was about. The only reason I would ever call him is to get something I needed. I made a soft clicking sound, knowing that he shouldn't have asked.

"Well I'm I sorry but I'm out. Heard Joker would be shipping something in in 2 weeks so everything is shut down. You just need to grab some Advil and take a few until you can get a substitute from somewhere." He said, and I knew he felt bad about it so I didn't push him.

"Bye then, Ill be fine until October. Call the day before you put it in the mail." I said before hanging up and giving up on everything. Now would be the time to make some plans but nothing would process. All I could remember was the fact that Wally was coming in an hour and by then I would be seizing and bleeding all over the place. I closed my eyes and possibly slept for an hour before waking to my own oblivion.

Since I'm not in any state of panic, it'll be so much easier to be taken by surprise and just hemorrhage. I groaned and tried to look at the full room, at Dick's face. A frown had been etched across his face and I made no move to comfort him when Wally came in and sat by him. He was confused at our small stand off, especially since I was laying on the floor, and in no position to do anything to anyone by the looks of me.

"Hey guys...what's wrong?" He said, his voice starting to waver while looking at my face. He went to sit by my side and gently held my chin, looking into my eyes. I wasn't exactly sure of what it was but I had a good idea as i stared into Wally's green eyes, all I could see reflected into them was red. In that time, Dick had left, easily taking this chance to go into Batman's lair and steal me something... how I love him, I really can't count the ways. I really just wanted to grab him and keep him close, never let anyone get to my most treasured thing in this world.

"School's starting soon, you shouldn't be feeling sick." He said, moving his other hand like he was going to check my tear ducts and I pulled back hitting my head on the floor roughly. I gasped, knowing what I'd just started, the chain of event that had been kicked off by my impatience and fear and while grasping the back of my head firmly... I wailed. It must have been painful to hear, because it was painful for me. I was unsure of the last thing I saw and who would be helping me this time but there was nothing left for me to do. I was slowly but surely gone, slipping into that dreaded coma the doctor talked about those many years ago. Instant recall would start, everything painful I had experienced would come back for me.

_Her bones were wrong. Every single one of them. She looked like her insides imploded and stayed inside. Dad looked just like her, mirrored faces of pain and anguish. I knelt beside them, and once I did the tears started to flow. It was a certain type of anguish I felt at that time, as if I could feel my own bones break, as if I has imploded. My mind was telling me to die to scream and cry and punch until everything I had was gone and I would be free._

"Alex!"

_But death is just too easy for a person like me, a person who holds all the pain in the world right by her side, who couldn't let go of the ties that would keep her in this world. How dare something like me, who will never forget live a cursed existence like this. To put me through so much for so little. To be unable to be deceived, to remember everything that had been taken in by all the senses...but for it all to turn on her in an instant._

"Her leg's bleeding, what do we do!"

_To never be able to let go of the ties...the last family member she has left...with his death brings her death...The pain would become too much for one child to manage. Death would be the only road for her. The more family she has...the easier to kill. The only way to live for as long as a human can...is to cut all ties._

'Alex, open your eyes! Please! You're my best friend!" I gasped and reached for what ever I could even though I was now enveloped in arms. Wally had been shaking me for a while but now he was holding me tight, keeping me close. I blinked hard trying to refocus myself and get a good look on what exactly was going on. Dick was re-wrapping my leg and Wally looked like he was crying. I hugged him back tightly, fighting the urge to rock him. He was scared for me, his hands shaking just a little, possibly from seeing my blood and me like that. I wiped my eyes, and saw that there was blood on my hands. Dick put a wet cloth over my eyes almost immediately before taking it off and resuming to my leg.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that Wally." I started almost bluntly, knowing I'd have to tell him why this felt like a preview for Bruce. AndI wouldn't be able to tell him anything else, there was no Plan B for something like this. I had no way to not tell the truth if someone saw me in that way. I took a deep breath and started with an explanation of Hyperthymestic disorder, followed by the fact that I have it and what could happen to me as a result.

'But you can't just go into a coma! I know you actually could but you'd be leaving behind so much...me, Roy, Dick, Bruce, Alfred, Uncle B..." He shook his head contemplating the end. He must have thought of the trouble this might cause and how telling him would implicate him in anything bad that happened if I were to forget or be without my meds for a while.

"When I get home, I'll tell Roy what happened today since Bruce is all over the phone bill here. Don't worry, you've got family here. I promise I'll do my best to protect you. Always." I would've bought him whatever he wanted at that moment, just knowing that I had another family member...and another person I was will to die for...just made everything worth living.

"I just don't understand." Wally says, knocking me out of my train of deep thought and I pick at the carpet, diverting my attention to that. I didn't want to explain anything anymore. I just wanted things to go back to how they were before and not have to explain anything.

"What do you mean?" Is it the pills that confuse him, my obnoxious brain? Or is it the fact that he sees what knowing this means; keeping a secret from his uncle? He wouldn't really feel good about not telling the truth over and over...I wouldn't either.

"Why won't you tell Bruce? What did you say?" He asks as I mumble the answer, looking away from him, not ever wanting to meet his eyes. His eyes widen as he interprets my silence in the wrong way, thinking that I wasn't going to tell at all.

"There is no way you wouldn't want to-"

"Stop."

"let Bruce know what going on since-"

"Stop IT."

"he'll be taking care of you for as long as he can."

"NO ONE WANTS A DAMAGED KID...OKAY." I put my head in my lap and took a deep breath, not wanting to reveal the things that have been thought. I don't want it to be known, the fear of not being wanted. I know, deep down, that Bruce would probably be okay with it all. It just kills me to know what he might feel if I'm actually wrong. It becomes quiet, no one talks and we resume a pleasant silence.

* * *

><p>"I know what happened...back at the benefit a few days ago." Bruce said and I asked Dick to pass the salt, almost amused at his facial expression, a mix between wanting to kill and simple worry. What an odd but wonderful combination to see on his face, lighting his eyes. I almost choked at the beginning of the sentence, starting to think he was talking about what happened yesterday. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and felt it hit against my waist Roy would come over in a few days and I needed this cut before I went to school, which started in a week.<p>

"Yeah, I'm alright, no need to worry." I said and he almost let the topic go...almost.

"If you ever see him again, take something and try to kill him, I'll make it all go away and-

"Master Bruce!" Alfred exclaimed, even though he was okay with it. You could tell by the amused look in his eye. It was a normal thing wasn't it, for a family to talk like this. I'll have this for a while won't I? I never want to let any of this go, the family I would die to protect. Seems like I want to die for a lot of things, huh?

"Mm hmm, noted and filed. Pick up something big and break on the back of his head, preferably the left which seems to handle memory." I say and they nod, not nearly being taken aback by that vast knowledge crap people spew about me since both of them were way smarter than me.

"School starts next Tuesday so you've got...4 or 5 days before you actually have something to occupy you for 7 hours of the day." He says and he fights a smile as he looks at my scowl.

"We don't need to go to..what, is it second grade? no, we're at least ready for fourth." I say, crossing my arms. I can see Bruce putting his brain to work, ready to give me a logical reason for why we're going to second grade. He opened his mouth but before he got out a syllable I was putting away my food.

"Fine. I don't want to hear your quantifiable reason for all of this so...fine."

I finished and went to my room quietly, putting on American Idiot and staying calm, wondering about how much I didn't want to see the snot nosed brats Gotham had to offer. I think fighting can't be seen if its done on the playground, but I'm only seven and how would that even make him look?. So many things on my checklist now. Seeing Batman, telling Bruce about the pills and pretending to be somewhat average when going to school. It was just going to be an utter snooze-fest until we were allowed to skip. For the meantime, I watched the time go by on my alarm clock. Once it hit 11:00, I got out of bed , and Dick had been waiting outside my door to take him to see Batman. I grab a flashlight, remembering that it would be pitch black and walked slowly to reach the end of the hall with the clock.

_SLAM!_

My insides curdled and I almost swore when Bruce stepped out of his room in only his boxers, ruffling his hair as he looked up and down the hall. I fell with a crack and winced as Bruce came our way. It confused me that he couldn't see us, but it was the mirror on the wall, giving a faint light to see him. What do i do, what do I do? I shake the flashlight and take no chances.I took a battery out of the flashlight and chucked it over the staircase, hearing it make a faint plunk on the floor below. Bruce's face became serious, more serious than I'd ever seen before. But what scared me the most out of all of that, was the look of terror that flashed across his face. He hustled down the stairs quickly before he swore and started to run back up the stairs. I saw his grip his stomach in a face of pain I thought I'd seen before. Dick grabbed and practically dragged me back to my room where we laid on the bed, seemingly asleep when Bruce opened the door and peeked in. I heard a sigh and the door closed, leaving me and Dick in silence.

"He thought someone came for us again, did you see his face?" Dick said brokenly, and I groaned, crawling out of bed and feeling guilty for what I was about to do.

"We still should go down there. I'll figure out a way to make him think it wasn't an intruder, okay?" I said and he nodded grimly before we quickly went to the clock and he changed the hands and went down into Batman's lair. he was already there, looking at a set of numbers on the computer and I hid behind the same pillar as last as we watch him intently. Then, he got up and turned around, seemingly done with all of his activities when he pulled back his cowl and-

"Bru-" I clapped a hand over his mouth and kept him close until Bruce disappeared.

Bruce is Batman.

Bruce doesn't know that we know he's Batman.

I saved Bruce/Batman's life.

I needed to pee.

Too much trouble in one night.

* * *

><p>"What's wrong with Batman?" Wonder Woman asked lowly to Flash, who seemed to be Batman's favorite at that time. Added to that, he was one of the few who could say they actually knew Batman. He wasn't in the room ,but he would surely know when he was being talked about.<p>

"He got shot or something. I've got to go. _Don't ask him any questions._" Flash hissed in her ear as he passed her, a warning few leaguers would actually need when talking to Batman, since they barely do. This warning however, was as serious as it could be. Tread lighter than humanly possible if you don't want him to take you out with anything he held in his hand at the moment.

"What do you mean!" She yelled as he waved her off and left, going home to his wife. She stood, grabbed a cup of coffee and walked slowly to the meeting room for the seven and stepped in, seeing Batman working on his personal laptop. She held the coffee close as she approached him before setting it down and tapping it a few times.

"Hey, need some coffee?" She said gently, noting that he was using his right arm less, making it easy to know he was shot there. He grunted and took the coffee, taking three gulps before setting it down and moving it away.

"Can I talk to you for a little or are you doing something important that needs your attention every second of every day?" She said, taking the chair next to him as he remained silent for a while.

"I have a mission in Thailand for the next week and I have no one to look after them." He said, sounding more worried than angry, since he let a good amount go at the fact that he had to go on this mission. R'as was seen in the area, there was no way he was going to let this go.

"Easy. Me and Dinah will take care of them. Bring them shopping, read them stories, the whole nine...what?" He had looked away from her so quickly she knew he was hiding a smirk. She would have pushed if Batman was normal...unless he was becoming just that.

"They would hate that, just grab the biggest book in the library and pass them that. There reading on a middle to high school level anyway.' He says, taking the coffee and getting up as she did.

"I leave in the morning, be there in the afternoon." He said, before departing and Wonder Woman smiled to herself, knowing that she would meet the kids who were fixing a darkened heart.

* * *

><p>"Are you absolutely sure you have to go on this business trip?" I whined, knowing it wasn't a business trip. It was surely a Batman kind of thing. There was no way he would go on a business trip for a whole week and not warn us in advance.<p>

'Don't worry about it, I asked someone to come over and take care of you guys. I'm sure she'll take good care of you guys.' He said, smiling on the chance that I'll take it. I grabbed a pen out of the drawer in the kitchen and one of those long notepads. I wrote a few lines on two papers and wrote two different names on them before folding it and sealing them with tape. I ran outside as he left, chest heaving and thrust them into his hands.

"Read...on the plane. Give this one...to Batman." I said and smiled before waving goodbye and running back inside the house. I walked up to Dick and he stared at me like I'd lost my mind. Well, I'm sure I did look a little manic, what with the wind destroying my hair.

"Let the mind games begin."

* * *

><p>Dick's POV<p>

There were too many knocks at the door at 2:00. Alex decided that after giving me an ominous saying she was going to take herself to bed and not give me an explanation for why she wanted to play mind games with Bruce. We could just tell him but No, we've got to make him tell us. She was like a 4 year old half the time,Jesus. I walked to the front door and opened it, knowing that and intruder would only come through the back.

"Who is...hi." I finally settled on when I saw them. There were two women in front of me, smiling and giving me some type of baby look that would have disturbed me if they didn't seem so nice.

"My name's Diana and this is Dinah, Bruce said he'd be gone for a week and asked if we could watch you guys." The black haired, blue eyed one said and I let them in. We just stood there for a few minutes, completely silent.

"I'll go get Alex, she'll want to know you're here. Just give me a while, she's taking a nap." I made a grimace and Diana giggled, so I was left confused as I went up the stairs and saw them looking around the room they were in. When I got into Alex's room, all I could see on the bed was a mess of blankets and hair.

'Alex,our makeshift babysitters are here."Alex groaned and rolled over, pressing her face back into the pillow. "Mnngrh." I pulled her off the bed and her eyes darted around before she settled on me, glaring so hard, I thought I was being burned.

"Can't believe you let some people that you don't even know into the house. Jesus, and look at my hair."She exclaimed, and put it in a ponytail before going down the stairs and spotting them. She froze and tried to go back upstairs when I gripped one of her shoulders and kept her there.

"Can I see some ID, so I know that you are who you are? Not trying to be rude, just safe is all." She says and the women exchanged a knowing glance before handing over their drivers licenses.

"Mmkay. so bring your suitcases upstairs, and I'll bring you guys to your rooms. Then, you can decide what to do next. I mean, you are the nannies at the moment." Alex took my hand and brought me into the kitchen.

"They seem nice, don't you think? All your worrying, gone to waste." I was smug, knowing that this opportunity may never grace me again.

"I see. Well, they only had to put their stuff away." She said, crossing her arms and meet them in the lobby of the house, where they are still somewhat amazed that they are in the house.

"Well,I think we should go shopping and bring Alex to the salon, but we will need some money to do that." Dinah frowned and Alex started going through the drawers, looking for something unseen.

'Whenever I wanted to get a CD online, Bruce would come hear to get the card so one of these drawers must have a ..false back." She displayed the black, platinum card that had Dinah at her side, basking in the light it gave off when you turned it in the air.

"So let's get going then." Dinah said, taking Alex's hand and making her way to the front door.

"Can I put some jeans on first then? I don't go out in shorts." She said, loosening the hold and rushing up the stairs, coming back down in some jeans and converses.

"Get one of the car keys in the kitchen and let's head out." Diana said and the car that was magically called forth was the Porsche.

"Whoa, I always wanted to drive one of these." Dinah said, beholding the steering wheel as she got inside. Then, she tore out of the garage like she was in an action movie.

"Alright, the biggest mall in Gotham. You'll love it." She said and I saw Alex grip the card so tight, it could have bled her and she wouldn't have noticed. We had to stop in the salon first and I fidgeted at the door, scared at the looks I was receiving from the general public inside. Their smiles were just too wide, like they were imitating the Joker.

'All right, Me and Richard will go get some clothes. You can join us when they're done with her hair." Dinah said, and we finally left that wretched place and I took a last glance at Alex, who was completely hiding her look of murder very nicely.

"She's not going to let them do anything to her hair. It's like number one on her priority list, other than me." I said, walking into the first store I saw before forgetting every thing I'd just said.

Jackets. Surrounded by wonderful looking jackets. I can't help it, Jackets are like a walking blanket to me.

"How many jackets can I get, Auntie Dinah?" I asked, knowing that Alex would've wanted me to call her that. Alex had very quick snap judgments, and she liked her.

"Aw, as many as you want." She said and I grabbed six of them before she brought me to the changing room.

"I'll be bringing you stuff so you just tell me if it fits and we'll get it." She says and we spend the next 30 minutes getting stuff before buying all the stuff I wanted and giving myself a small heart attack when I see three zeros.

"Um did we spend too much, Auntie-"

"Of course not, Bruce is loaded and we're spending it on you so he'll be fine with it." She sat back as Diana and Alex came in. If I was drinking something, it would've been all over the store now. Alex was smiling and happy and had cornrows. I wanted to be shocked but I just smiled back and patted her head gently.

"You guys got a lot of stuff." She said, gesturing to the 7 bags surrounding us. "They tried to cut my hair but I didn't let them. No Way was I going to do that, never in my lifetime." She said, shaking her head.

"Alex, I saw some really cute skirts and I was-"

"Oh no, I don't wear skirts unless I'm forced...or bribed with a CD." Alex said and Dinah pushed her into a dressing room. I just sat there, watching them pick out all this black items that had Alex _squealing_ in delight, and I'm praying to everything Holy for Bruce picking these two to take care of her. She need some older girl to look up to, or all she'd know is Tonka Trucks.

"I have merch! Thank you so much. Poate voi sta cu noi pentru totdeauna şi niciodată?" She said eagerly, grasping their hands before realizing her mistake.

"Can you stay with us forever and ever?" I translated quickly, and she nodded. They exchanged a glance before pulling us both in for a hug.

"Gosh we'd have to kidnap them from Bruce-"

"And he has a jet, don't forget the jet-"

"Well then, we'll just have to come over whenever you need us. Before we leave, I'll "accidentally" leave our numbers and come by when you call." Diana finished before we each carried as many bags as we could before getting to the car, which was untouched.

"And I thought someone would try something. Brought a knife, empty gun and mace for nothing." She said, and Diana frowned at her muttering about giving the kids bad influences and such. I just loved it.

"We get enough bad influences here, this is Gotham. However, this is coming frpm a person with unrivaled common sense so it's a-okay." Alex said and Dinah giggled before tearing out of the parking lot and into incoming traffic. Alex is once again proved wrong.

"Auntie Dinah, YOU are trying to kill us!" We said when we slid down the seat, and Diana laughed at our contorted faces.

"Auntie Diana, don't encourage this!" We screeched as she made another hard turn into our neighborhood. I'm sure being acrobats saved our lives because with all the rolling we used to do, this actually would be labled as nothing. God, we need to start practicing again. Maybe they'd help us when we had the chance to ask them about it.

"All right, take the stuff to your rooms while me and Diana put our stuff in the closets." Auntie said and we raced away, actually taking the time to be neat with our treasure. I could already tell they didn't know how to cook as we got downstairs, hearing them order pizza. I could handle this for a whole week.

* * *

><p>Batman put the jet on auto-pilot before reaching into his bag and getting the two notes left for him. He took out the Batman one first, knowing it may hold more information than the one left for himself.<p>

_Dear Batman, I won't be able to go see you this whole week.  
>I tried to see you yesterday, but Bruce was out and I think<br>he thought there was someone in the house. I feel really  
>bad about it and I was going to ask if you could lie and say<br>you were checking the house or something. Take care of  
>yourself and don't get shot again. I won't be able to help<br>you. I just feel so bad about not telling him about you.  
>There are so many things I haven't said to him and it<br>makes me feel guilty.  
>Wish you all the best, Alexandra Grayson<em>

He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that all that worry was for nothing and they were truly safe as he left them behind. Anyway, Black Canary and Wonder Woman were more than enough to keep them safe. But the last few sentences "so many things I haven't said to him" is what brought back all that worry. What was this kid keeping from him and why would it make her feel so guilty? He opened the next note hesitantly, wondering if she had left some of those mentined secrets in that letter.

_Dear Bruce, be really, really safe on your trip. You're the one  
>with the zeroes behind the name so they'll be after you with<br>more of a purpose. I really hope you didn't leave us with any  
>nun-type nannies that come from England or something. That<br>would be just cruel. I was going to tell you this before you left  
>but I didn't get the time.I couldn't write this in Batman's letter<br>for safety reason but when i was with the Joker, I found out  
>that there's a shipment of some type of poison to Pier 36 in<br>2 weeks. I don't know anything about this and you did NOT  
>get this from me.<br>Wish you all the best, Alex_

How could she know all of this? This information hadn't even gotten to him at all. He needed to figure out how she was doing this and fast. That would mean only one thing he thought smugly as he sat back into his chair.

Let the mind games begin.

* * *

><p>Roy had come by, sent by his guardian because Dinah would usually take care of him. I was teaching him about different acrobat things and he was actually able to do a few flips. Because of his presence so suddeny, Dinah and Diana launched a full length lecture to Alex about men and why they aren't as responsible.<p>

"This is a perfect example of that. Everytime Oliver has to do one thing, he asks me to take care of Roy. Roy is grown, he doesn't want me to take care of him all the time." Dinah said, getting a sound of approval from said person who had just completed an aerial before Dinah got up and did the same thing...but better.

"Focus a little bit more on the ground below you, then you be able to see how long you can stay up before hitting the ground."

"Someone did gymnastics for a while. You really are cool." Alex said, doing it while adding some extra flips.

"Well, I'm not as good as you. I know how to do that because I know how to fight, that's all." Dinah said, and showed us a few moves which we put to memory and mimiced to the best of our ability. It was awesome and even Diana got into it, showing each of us something suited to the type of person we were.

"Well, you're all strong, stronger than you're body mass even qualifies you to be. Roy, you are great with the bow, but you need to be ready for when it's out of your hands. And you'll need to learn physics when you're older, it'll help you with how you shoot if you can apply it well. Richard, you have the strength, but you're more conservative with it. You'd rather dodge and fight at the same time. That's actually going to help you so you can hold out longer. Alex, you're striaghtforward with your fighting. You have enough strength to back it up and the stamina as well. Added to that, you can move just as well as your brother. All together, I think you guys could become black belts in whatever you wanted and it wouldn't take you long either." She said as we all sat and listened, silently knowing this would all go towards our pursuit of being a hero. I stared at ALex who was making a grimace and stuggling to get up.

"I'll go get the guaze. You could have just told me it hurt...Alex, it's bleeding too." I said, getting the Guaze and hydogen peroxide from the kitchen. I took of her old wrap carefully, while she took deep breaths to regulate her blood flow so it wouldn't bleed while all this was going on. Dinah and Diana gasped when I took it off, and moved me away to inspect.

"How can you even move with this? It's directly at your...Sorry, it's just uncommon for a person to even be able to stand with this injury. And you're not taking any medication? Alexandra, you should really take a moment to assess yourself. You wouldn't want any lasting injuries." Diana said before taking the guaze and changing it herself, doing a perfect job.

"I heard you got that wound from the Joker and I knew it would be somewhat bad but sweetie, you're puting yourself in a lot of pain right now. Don't do anything reckless for the next week and when we come back and okay you, I'll show you guys more stuff. Roy! I've got to bring you home and get back here." She said and we hugged before I wispered 'Wally' in his ear and he nodded.

"Of course. Don't worry about 'll meet in 2 weeks here and the next time it'll be at my house. I've got this." He said, chasing after Dinah who had already started the carand sped of before coming back in under 2 hours(possibly breaking the speed limit) and got us ready for bed.

* * *

><p>It took us all a while to realize that Bruce wouldn't be here when Dinah and Diana had been here for 4 days. School would be there and we had been sent uniforms, thanks to Alfred's advanced thinking and where able to be all nice looking the morning of that dreaded day. Diana had taken out Alex's braids and straightened her hair, leaving it in a ponytail and getting into another expensive car.<p>

"I won't drive rough this time, don't want to give the school people a bad impression, y'know." She said, driving normally for once. I kind of missed the way she drives,me and Alex had actually gotten used to the idea of her driving each time we went somewhere. She stopped in front of an okay looking school, something I had never been too. It could be said that we were out of our element but we were home-schooled so it wasn't as much of a problem. We came into the main building without them, asking them to let us go alone. They left quickly as Alex brought up the fact that they might be labeled as Bruce's new girlfriends and Dinah tore down the street, probably leaving burn marks on the road.

"They're just lovely, aren't they?" She muses and I can't help but laugh. It's actually pretty weird here, the way they treat us. We're like glass to them, fragile and untouchable. Alex tells me that Bruce is just that powerful and so is Batman, even though he doesn't exactly fit in this equation at all. They were nice, much too nice. Trying to shake our hands and be acquainted with us and the like.

Class was, in a word, boring. It was like being strapped to a chair and having to be force fed things you've known since you were 5. Addition, they were giving us addition. I almost fell asleep but I could see Alex, who just happened to be able to get in the same class, as well as get a seat next to be, writing multiplication things and I followed. I started with the 12 tables and got up to 15 when they called for recess and lunch. We were supposed to put our bags away but Alex took her's with her, almost begging a teacher to call her out.

* * *

><p>Alex's POV<p>

Here I sit, perched on this school bench, inhaling the smells of children my age, running and playing, laughing without a care. I know I shouldn't move my foot, so I gain an advantage to this craziness 's already making friends, playing soccer with some other boys. I just want to read so I mindlessly took out Hary Potter and the Sorceror's Stone planning to read the series from where it is at the moment again. I reach Privet Drive when I feel that there's a person behind me, noting what I read.

"It's a good book. My mom reads it to me." He says, moving to sit at my left. His mom reads him books, how sweet. He gravitates on the seat for a while before I move my feet and let him get comfortable.

"Yeah, I'm just reading it over. I have to wait a while before I get new books." I say, and look up to see him staring at me intently, which is weird since he didn't seem like the type of kid to do that. Black hair, dark eyes, possible bright smile with fair skin. Just a normal person who stared at me.

"My name's Jason, Jason Vega. I already know your name, everyone does." He says sheepishly and I look back at the book. The letters are coming at full force now, filling Uncle Vernon's house. I grin inside because of the perfectness of Harry Potter.

"I can see that. What are you doing over here then?" I ask and he stares down, and I'm sure I probably made him feel bad. I know it's mean, but I don't like the idea of friends and stuff. I just want to be a loner, what's so bad about that?

"I wanted to be your friend, mostly because I would like a person to sit and read with." He says and I hear the bell that means recess is over. I think I hear him grumble before i go back in and get to my seat. I realize that I sit next to him, which is really sad on so many levels.

School is bland and demeaning to my brain, I almost want to puke about it. They both come and try to give us sympathy with the whole "give it a while" attitude that really doesn't help. I walk into the house, take a pill from the secret stash and lay back until Dinah brings in take out. It's good and well and I put on my Paramore shirt before going to sleep to hearing "Brighter".

I crawled out of bed hesitantly because I could hear some rustling and a small bang. I went into my brother's room and seeing that he was awake, we went down the stairs slowly and care fully to see what as happening.

"Make sure Alex stays of her leg, I think it needs more rest. Take Care." Diana says, hugging him like she would never get the oppurtunity ever again. Bruce looks shocked, but returns it anyway. He looks like he broke a facade and wants ti back desperatly. I see what's wrong now. How much he needs Batman in his life.

"Thanks." He said, and in a tone that I couldn't place. It sounded more rough, a little bit mean even and I could tell he was a bit off, more Batman mode than usual. I peeked just a bit and saw he was in Bruce fashion .

"Bruce!" Dick exclaimed, racing down the stairs while I watched, mouth wide open and he jumped over the staircase on the second level and did a series of flips to land on his feet before it. I rolled my eyes and did the same, not wanting to be left out completely. I surveyed him at once, and went over it 10 times in my head looking for any problems. I could tell he had some bruises on his back but was otherwise okay. We both gave him hugs which he returned with a grimace.

"Hey, go out and say goodbye to Dinah and I'm going to go eat." He said with a small wink as we went outside and gave them both a gigantic hug.

We went back inside, staring holes into Bruce, wondering what our next move should be while he raised an eyebrow at us.

"It's late. You've got school tomorrow and a benefit on Saturday. I trust you guys to do your homework on your own, correct?" He said, going up the stairs as we trailed after him to go into our own rooms. Ugh, another benefit that might make me want to die.

* * *

><p>I seriously wanted someone to smite me down and send me to hell at that moment. That "woman" was flirting with Bruce, and blatantly forgot that we were in hearing distance at that school. I'm seriously reading to fake a panic attack if she tries anything, just watch me.<p>

"Just fill this form out...and you can go." She had said, pushing the paper over the counter laughably, almost putting half her body over it and leaving her hands there. She had also placed her number on a thin piece of paper and I almost barfed. When Bruce just took the paper at it's smallest edge and let the paper fall to the ground, I fake-coughed my way to a seat to watch him give us a small smile.

"Here you go. Thank you so much." He said, adding a bright smile, which made the lady swoon and me roll my eyes. We left after that was over and went to class, which was now tolerable at the and Dick had made it into the same social circle somewhat and we both had the same friends. Our Lunchtime table consisted of me, Dick, Jason, Jason's friends Micah and Craig, and Dick's friends Josh, Drake and Mark. It was, in a word, lively to be at our table. It was filled with laughter, more so than the usual child. We all knew and talked about some of the same things, ranging from all the things me and Dick used to do at the circus to what most child our age would be doing. We found out that Jason was actually very smart and would be a chess prodigy but his mom didn't want him going to a higher grade to quickly and that his father is a very successful millionaire who would be going to the benefit also. Thank everything that created this world that I could meet someone I know at that dreaded place.

It was just very quiet when we went home. I couldn't say that I was unsure of why we were being so secretive but I decided that I would try to have a little fun with Bruce. Not fun, but menial conversation that could lead to something great. Sometimes the easiest and stupidest approach works on the weakened.

"What's Batman like?" I asked, swinging my legs off of the chair. His back visibly stiffened and I remembered something...Bruce had gone down there. How stupid of me not to realize that I could have known from the beginning but blocked it out for future processing.

"Why do you ask?" Huh. Not exactly what I was expecting but it would be easy enough to analyze. He knows what Batman is like because he is Batman, he thinks I don't know, and I'll be out on the look for him on a later date. He'll want to establishthat they are not one and the same, but he wants to give me a superficial heads up.

"You're rich, people come after you, Batman is on your speed dial with the right amount of cash to fund his expenses to do what he does and cover his medical. Not rocket science." I say and he constricts on his laugh. He has accepted my version of the ties between him and Batman and is trying to make a reasoning for everything else. I make no sounds and watch my brother walk in, most likely hearing our conversation.

"Yeah, that's the only way Batman would listen to a civilian. I heard his got a custom made car that could only possibly be afforded by a billionaire. And then, the only other person in the area would be Uncle Queen and he's not in Gotham." Dick says,grabbing a Fiji water from the fridge.

'Well, yeah. I do finance Batman. don't know what he does with some of the money, but he gets it. Anyway, Batman is...well, he has his own way of doing things. Doesn't take no for an answer, knocks heads a little bit after getting answers. That kind of guy." He was just a bit smug, I could feel it. he really liked to hype himself up in front of his kids.

"Cool! If I ever got to work with Batman or anything, I'd be just like that.'What's Joker planning with all those crates of the shore'" I said, laughing with Dick and Dick did the same giving a rendition of "Where's the Riddler?'. Bruce laughed too, and I could tell we were spot on.

"Wouldn't that be hard for you? To do things like that?"

"Nope. We would already be in trouble being your wards. Knowing how to fight would be in our advantage. We'd just have to fix our voices a little more. I would speak more American in a cape and more Romanian in civilian wear. Simple." I said, stressing my Romanian accent slightly, just enough to make me sound foreign but not obnoxious and nasty sounding.

"Wow. That would actually work. But, you would need to be able to give him information. The things you wrote in the note, how did you get that?" He asked nonchalantly, but was listening intently to my answer.

"I made some friends in Juvie. Couldn't have done it without Dick though." I said and he nodded, going along with whatever I went into the frigde to get the parts to make a sandwich. I bit back a scoff and returned to the conversation.

"I see. And you can contact them as well."HE sounded very ominous and I surmised that he would try to figure out how. I would tell him about it later.

"Anyway, I've got something really important to tell you. Well...I've-We've met Batman. One time we tried to go see him and well he didn't know we were there. Then, he pulled his cowl back and I saw-"

"I did not-"

"I knew it! I knew you would interrupt me and confirm you were Batman. If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have either. Question is, where do you want to go from here?" I asked and he raised an eyebrow before sighing.

"Sooner or later, you were going to know about this. I just want to keep it here and stay how we all are now,that's all."He concluded and I shook my head, no way was I just going to let this go.

"Nope. I want to learn how to fight. I mean, black belt, breaking cement blocks fight. I'm not getting an injury to my leg that easily ever again." He shuddered and I paused before continuing.

"I want to help Batman, well you, save Gotham. I live here now and I want to be sure that everyone I've ever seen here canwalk outside after dark without having to look over their shooulders. I don't know if it'll cause any problems but we'll take it as t goes." I said and he started to shake his head before I even finished the first sentence.

"You will not be exposed to that kind of environment. I understand teaching you how to fight, but I would never allow you to go out into Gotham. Even if you could fight me and win,I just couldn't bear something happening to you." He gave us both a look, one I truly couldn't recognize and I knew I wouldn't be able to listen.

"Understood. I mean, I could handle it, but if that's what you want then I won't argue,_yet_." I got up and left him there, going into the study and filling my brain with all the knowledge needeed to be a black belt in judo and Karate.

* * *

><p>"Bruce won't be here for 30 minutes so let's just do this one last time." I said, hitting the oversized bag hader. We had been swinging it back and forth hitting with different combinations to see how much it would take to make it swing the most. I had no trouble telling him exactly how to do it, he had the brains to keep up.<p>

"Alright, we've been here for..two hours. I've got to rewrap my leg before it bleeds or something-"

"If you except me to teach you how to fight, how are you going to keep up after working out for two hours?" Bruce said, wearing some shorts and a simple shirt. He was leaning against the wall, and I could almost see why people want him so much. Bruce was young, really young, like hit 25 last year or something.

"Eh, we used to go for four hours back at the circus, this is nothing. Let me finish wrapping this and...thanks." I said as Bruce took the guaze from me and did it himself, his face turning up in disgust as he checked the wound and I flinched as his finger brushed over one of it's sides.

'Sorry." He mumbled as he finished and got in the ring with Dick, who looked tired but amused at getting a chance to fight Batman.

"So tell me, what exactly did Alex show you that's got you so happy?" He asked as Dick started giving combo after comb, knocking the bag at Bruce enough to make him move back. I clapped just a little, being just a bit ecstatic at what exactly he was doing. Then, I got in there and did the same until Bruce sprung up and hit hard, matching us and more until I had to dodge with a flip as it grazed my face. He hesitated but kept going and I took advantage by trying to down and sweep his legs out but he jumped up and I fell into a split. I flipped up and got into a handstand hitting the bag with my feet, until I was able to get up and do a roundhouse kick, giving it a tilt and letting it hit Bruce in the chin sending him back. He seemingly checked for blood and I covered my mouth before he grinned at us.

"So, one day you guys can't fight and the next you become Mike Tyson. It's gotten to the point where I should just stop getting surprised and let you guys do whatever." He says and starts drilling us in everything we need to know.

"Ugh, this is going to kill me sooner or later. Anyway, go to bed. I've got things to do." Bruce said and we both left, happier than ever, knowing how close we were to saving all we had left.

Each other.

* * *

><p>"They know." he said, silencing Flash for another time in that whole month, a feat no other human being could accomplish if they weren't Batman. No one was aware of the topic of this conversation, but Flash could easily deduce why Batman would even talk at all.<p>

"What you gonna do about that?" Flash said, and Batman shook his head, a notion that made Flash choke up just a bit.

"You mean, what have I already done. There was only one option, teaching them." He said and Flash threw and empty plate in his direction with Batman's reflexes allowing him to duck in time as it flew and collided with the nearest wall, making a good sized dent in it. The room had become so silent, you could even hear the breathing of everyone in the building.

"They better be able to do that before you send them anywhere. If they can't, they're dead before I could even attempt to save them." Flash said lowly, grasping the attention of everyone who had no self control and decided upon themselves to listen for Batman's answer.

"That's means they'll be ready by next month. How about bench pressing anything over 95?" He said, rubbing his temples before standing up and being patted on the back by Flash.

"Good Man. Now, I'm leaving home for a few days, can he stay with you?" Flash asked, walking with Batman out of the cafeteria and stepping over the remains of the metal plate.

"Yeah, He'll probably get infected with the training bug by both of them, but if you can stand that, I guess that's what will happen." Batman said, leaving the Watchtower.

* * *

><p>There will be a time skip and I will not be identifying their stay at the Manor. The pause will be a month and the next chapter will probably be full of action sequences that I have been working on before putting out this chapter. This chapter is very late and I think I'll just do twice a week, 5,00 worded chapters from now on. Dragging this chapter out and making it tangible just didn't work for me. I would like to apologize to all the people who follow these stories and would like to make it up to you.<p>

Anyone who would like a one shot of any kind specifically designed for them in whatever they like can ask for it and receive it in the same week. I hope this will be enough and that you'll forgive me for leaving you for so long. This AN might be the longest I've done and I would like to point out one thing.


	13. The Used

So let me reintroduce what I have said, there is a one month time skip that I would like to take place so the story can continue. It is approximately the last week of October and will be the first time I ever write a very serious action sequence. I would like for you guys to tell me how it goes and what I can do to make this better. I only continue this story for you guys.

* * *

><p>The sweat dripped in small inconsistent forms with the figures above them, locked in heavy and unlikely combat. Neither wanted to let the other pass, none wanting to be defeated. He raised the poison dart and aimed it clearly at her face, knowing well what would happen if it connected.<p>

"You'll die, no doubt about it." He said, bringing his arm back while looking at her and letting it fly. She swept down very matrix like while adding a twist to get into a handstand and catch the dart in between her ankles and looking up at the person who had tried this stunt.

"It's a bomb." He said easily, and she threw her legs backward on instinct, using enough momentum to get it to the other side of the room and stood up, back in a newly created stance that made the other raise his eyebrows before charging swiftly... and watching her disappear.

"You're done." She said, batarang on his neck, on an angle so sharp it could tear his head off as she grasped the back of his clothing and got herself on his shoulders.

"You both passed. Well Done." Bruce said, lifting off of his shoulders and to the ground. He sat on the floor and realized just how impossible this was. In one month, they were able to do enough to be out on the field. It just couldn't be possible. The second half of this would be the learning thing, but they would take that so much easier. Alex would probably start to bring books to the table when eating, and multi-task more that she has already.

"So we can go and help you now? Great. I'll start drawing the costumes!" She exclaimed even though she was tired, this session taking longer than the others because Bruce wanted to test them in everything they've done and more, while pushing them to their breaking point to see how much they could handle. They were good, and it was possible they could do more then some of the people in the League.

"Well..no. The other side of this is..paper work. It's basically just figuring things out before the situation get worse. For right now, I'll be taking care of it but as time goes on, I'll make you guys learn it and do it yourselves. For now, you just need to learn about basic science, more first aid and maybe disarming bombs. What do you want first?" He said, throwing each of them a bottle of water while they discussed in rushed Romani, a dialect of Romanian that couldn't be written.

"Well, I want to do disarming bombs. Then science, and after that First aid. We used to fix our own wounds back at the circus, anyway." Dick said, stretching just a bit before walking away.

"SO I'm going to bed, you? Cool, but know that your music is not safe." He says with a parting glance before leaving Alex and Bruce there to clean up.

"So first aid, I've got that. I did remove that bullet from you...pretty good work for my first time. Weirdly enough, I just can't see myself getting shot like that. And I want to learn hacking so I can trace the Joker's money, he has to put it somewhere. Leaving it out can get messy, people vying for change." She said, going into the med room to check for anything worthwhile and popping a pill when he wasn't looking.

"Alex, you left me a letter saying you had secrets...was that true or where you faking me out?" He said as a giant crash resounded in the room, followed by a painful gasp that had Bruce there in mere seconds. Alex had been holding her head tersely while pushing away the metal board that seemingly crashed into her skull. Even though she was bleeding somewhat heavily from her forehead, she seemed okay, not even noting the fact she had been hurt. She just stood, grabbed a gauze pad, put alcohol on it and put it on while looking in the mirror.

"Alex, that's going to...burn." He said, as she stood complacent, not noting the bubbling factor that was made after she put hydrogen peroxide on it. Then she got a smaller piece of gauze and placed it on her forehead before huffing to herself as she looked in the mirror.

"I'll need a bang to cover this, oh the woes of scars." She said, stepping out and getting ready to leave.

"That didn't hurt? At all?" Bruce asked, going to the computer and turning it on without looking at her. It was simple to deduce that he was hiding a look of pain.

"If I plan on working with you in the future, something like that can't be able to bring me down." She said, leaving with her pride on her back.

* * *

><p>"How? I saw the video and I know it's true but still, why couldn't you just take it slow or something?" Flash said, having a newly formed conversation with Batman outside of the main room and catching the attention of many Leaugers.<p>

"Simple. They're just good like that. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get home." He said, while Flash blocked him from the zeta beams opening. They pretended not to see the others, only focusing on each other. Nothing could be said of the immense responsibility upgrade Batman was going through now.

"What should I say to you now? Basically, this is right but at the same time it just feels like someone's going to get screwed over in this equation." Flash said, and Batman nodded.

"Just...take good care of them." Flash says lowly as Batman goes in and they are again, on the same wavelength.

* * *

><p>"SO basically, this are the costumes Me and Dick drew up while you were gone. I took the liberty of getting the blue prints of yours and adding some notes. What do you think?" She said, combing through the perfectly done bang Alfred cut for her.<p>

" The drawing's good and your hair's nice, too. Guys... I really don't think you should start so young. So, how about I get these done and when I think I could actually handle the reality of you guys doing what I do, I'll let you go. Can you guys let me be selfish this one time?"

"No, not really. You're going to need that one time sooner or later in our lives. I know it's hard to let the little kids go out and fight the good fight, but we're ready. We have everything we need to go out there. I'd appreciate it if you'd give us this opportunity to see if _we could handle it._" Dick said, moving to go upstairs while giving me a small parting glance. I sighed and grabbed a book on computers, hoping to not have to carry on a conversation with Bruce about this subject.

"Is he angry at me?" He said somewhat fretfully, and I scoffed involuntarily.

"He hates I when people doubt him. It's not good for his health either, the way he'll keep trying even if he's in pain to erase those doubts. Man, we're fragile, weird, and downright scary at times. You've got to navigate that Grand Line." I said, reading about hard drives.

"What does any of this have to do with a Grand Line? There is no Grand Line."

"Yeah see, I read One Piece. Just so you know, I'll insert different things in my speaking. Don't worry about that." I said , patting his knee to include Dick in the whole don't worry about it. He made no movement to reply. I approached the door of the room Dick had gone into, which seemed to still be open even though, I thought he would have slammed or locked it. When I crept in, he was on the floor, knocked out in sleep. I laughed inwardly and took a pill. If only I could dream as he does.

"Whether he likes it or not, we have to help those people. People have died from this disease of a place, and we're going to do the best we can to make sure it isn't in vain. That they didn't die and make no difference. That we know exactly what was done and we will protect what was left behind." I said, getting him into bed.

And then, without warning, it swept over me, the dreadful truth, more completely and undeniably than it had until now. They were dead, gone, never to return before anyone...ever. I tried to breath in but my body wouldn't allow, couldn't let the pain leave my heart. I needed air. I swiftly left the house, going through the front door as Bruce had now become Batman. It was like a twister had grown outside on that October day, making my hair whip around me and hit my face. I pulled my hair back and put it in a quick braid before going laying on the soft grass that was my backyard. IT didn't help at all, I still felt as if it was going to take me, halt the progress I could be making until I decided to go back into the house.

I raced into my room, grabbing the phone off the jack and calling a number I would never forget.

"Alex? Why are you calling at 10:00? You could've woken up Uncle B?" He said, and I felt my heart speed up, I was seriously giving myself a heart attack.

"I needed to talk to someone...Wally, why does this all happen?" There was a pause and I almost thought he left.

"Alex, I can't explain the universe to you yet, I'm not a complete physicist. All I can say is the fact that the world has a domino effect. Every action will create a new action that keeps the world going around. I know you're going through a rough time right now, but I think the best person you could talk to right now is your brother or Wayne."

"Ugh, I just feel like I'm being killed on the inside you know?

"Yeah. I almost gotten internal bleeding before.""Wally, that's really not helping, and I almost went into V-tach man." I said, wincing and turning over.

"I'm thinking about whether I should try to embrace my past or just let it all go."

"Embrace it. You survived a rough childhood. Thing is, I kind of need you to stay my friend, I don't anyone except for you, Roy and Dick with anything I truly think about. Anyway, I think I hear Bruce, stay in school, my great friend.

'Wait!"

"What?" I harshly whispered, waiting for the footsteps to pass my room.

"Did you become Robin and Raven yet?" He said this somewhat excitedly and I sighed in relief. Bruce wasn't going to check in on us tonight, I could talk to Wally forever.

"Basically. You'll need to come to the house, you know. Learn how to fight and stuff. What have you been working on anyway?" I asked and he seemed to be happier. My heart returned to normal, memories of my past has gone back to where they belonged.

"I've got everything I need, mostly basic things for the experiment. Uncle B going to let me try it out, even though I know it won't work. The only thing I need is nitroglycerin, it's an explosive material but vaporized it can widen blood vessels, which would help me keep a better stamina." HE said, and I had a new mission.

"I'll have it by next week, so ask your dad- I mean uncle if you can come over." No sound came after I had uttered the word dad and I just went to sleep, wondering what I'd have to do so he could see I was right.

* * *

><p>" How do I say this nicely? POP SUCKS. That good enough for you?" I said sweetly, and Jason almost snorted out his danimals.<p>

"Preach, my friend, but it could be worse you know. Just wait, sooner or later the music will have no meaning what so ever." He said, rolling his eyes. Everyone else at the table had no idea what we were talking about as we got into studying to get more ahead than we already were, doing some review for 5th graders.

"Convert before you add, the numbers could get mixed up in your process." I said, erasing some of his work.

"You're too smart, you know that right, Grayson. Anyway, I'll see you later." he said and we got our stuff to go home. When we got into the car, surprised to find Bruce driving us home, I almost screwed everything up with one sentence.

"He calls me Grayson now, is that a good or bad thing?" I asked Dick and Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"Who calls you Grayson?"

"Jason does, Alex's best friend." Dick says, almost suggestively and I elbow him in the ribs.

"Stop with that. You already know he's like...number 4 on the list right now, since you, Wally and Roy are tied for first." I said, simply and looked through my bag for a juice.

"I see the face you're making Bruce. Jason Vega, 8 yrs old, born on May 13th, parents are millionaires so you'll meet them at a benefit or two and he's intellectually sound. Questions?" There was silence as we got into the house, and I felt as if he wouldn't talk to me the whole day.

"Dick, I'm going to get the chemical at the warehouse, right about now. You Game for helping me out?"He nodded and gave me the lock picks he made since Bruce hid them, the smart man he was. I gave him a hug and he got some guaze, wrapping it skillfully around my hands and fingers. He gave me a kiss on the cheek and a hug before departing to get some sleep.

So yes, I took this chance to put on an all black outfit and tied two black bandanas around my head so my face only showed the eyes which I had covered with dark glasses. I grabbed a flashlight, small explosives and 5 knives before leaving for the warehouse Mike had told me about. The Joker must have guards, but I hadn't figured that I'd have enough stamina and patience to get to the warehouse with no sweat. I shook of the cold and stared closely, watching the guards do their rotations and timely it perfectly so I could get in.

New guard set up in 3...2...1...Go! I sped off, going down a small hill that I had used to mask myself and got inside the building. I breathed a sigh of relief, noting no cameras and went down the halls quickly, making sure I knew which turns I had taken and what I had seen in every room until I saw it. Vials and Vials, Beakers and fridges. I knew this place was full of chemicals.

I made sure there was no one inside the room. I looked at all the different tubes until I found it. _Nitroglycerin is a white, somewhat colorless liquid that , if vaporized, can be used to widen blood vessels._ Yes! All I've got to do is-

"Now, what do we have here?" He snarled and I suddenly snapped into place, grabbing the full beaker and moving backwards, trying to find another way out, no luck, he was blocking the only exit.

He was a swordsmen, no doubt by the katana in his belt. A smile graced his lips and he took it out swiftly, looking like he felt no sadness with taking out a child.

I turned my attention back to the fight, "Now, where were we?" and with a quick flick of his hand, as if to say. "Come on." Towards me,the fight was on.

I rushed at the unknown man. He dipped and weaved right as I was about to reach him and slashed downwards with the sword. I parried with one of my forearms and the blade clashed against a chrome rack to my left as I bent beneath his range the chrome fell with a shriek that sent sparks flying into the air. The swordsman was quick and uppercut slashed at me, attempting to catch me from stem all the way to stern.

I sidestepped to the right just enough and the blade passed a hairs breath from my face. My breathing was coming out sharp and I knew this needed to , before he could respond with a follow-up, I swiftly punched him in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of the swordsman, and stunning him for a brief moment.

The fight had taken both of us dangerously close to the more dangerous chemicals and I had my back almost to the wall, despite the counter was still open for more attacks though and I was not done.

The quick blow had opened him up for another attack and I obliged him, putting a simple sidekick into the swordsman's stomach, doubling him over. I followed that up with a quick rising uppercut.

Taking the opening and using the environment to my advantage, I moved to back flip onto the wall and pushed off towards him. The maneuver sent me front flipping towards him and just before I reached the swordsman, he went into a matrix-type move to avoid me. Instead of colliding with the adversary though, I maneuvered to wrap my feet around his neck as he came up. The maneuver caught him off guard as he was recovering his wits, once again.I was in mid- air now, wondering what exactly I could do to him now.

I used this momentum in a creative way, instead of jumping off easily; I jerked to the right and swung around him. Then, when I was directly behind my opponent, I angled to kick into his lower spine changing the direction of his fall.

However, I was stopped short.

I was pulled off the ground violently and was thrown across the floor. I skidded and tumbled along the ground, uncontrolled. A groan escaped his lips as the pain from the attack started setting in. I felt that I had collided into a row of glasses and I could have been bleeding at that point. I blocked out the pain and pretended it never happened.

I looked up and his eyes opened with surprise. He had lost his katana when I punched him, but he was planning to throw me, once again.

As he was about to let go of me during the throw, I had reached down and planted both hands on the ground. When he realized I hadn't been hurt, I went to a stand, throwing myself into a quick back spring, followed by another, another, and another to build momentum. When he was almost to me , I bounded off the ground and threw myself into a spin that would have made an expert gymnast jealous. My legs moved out and tripped the man up, making him fall into another row. I saw that he didn't get up and I dusted myself off.

"Well, that was easy. Ugh, let me take all of this stuff." I said to myself, putting it into a bag, and moving out as easy as I came in. I raced home, slamming the door by accident, wincing at the sound it made. I heard loud footsteps as I got into my room.

"Who Are!- Alex?" Bruce said, sounding half past aghast as I took off the bandanas.

"Hey, I just went for a walk and stuff. And you're angry? Okay, sure." I said, and he said nothing else, just walked away and went downstairs. I felt guilty immediately and changed before going downstairs to talk to him.

Turns out, Uncle Ollie had decided to come by and was amused by my surprise endeavor.

"Depends, did you get into any trouble out there?" He said with a chuckle. When I didn't reply, everything became too serious and too fast.

"Where and Why?" They chorused lowly and in the same time, scaring me more than usual. I needed a good plan if I would get out of this with no restrictions.

"Warehouse closet to here that owned by the Joker...LET me finish! I had been looking through and I found a lot of chemicals, and most of them were explosive so...I took them." I said, a little bit breathless, but okay over all.

"I ran into a little bit of trouble...WAIT! And I'm good. He's somewhere, trying to get help for his concussion and I'm here..wondering if I did get hurt." I said, before turning around and lifting up the back of my shirt.

'See Anything?" I said.

"Nope, you're fine. Just...don't go out without me knowing. And make sure you put the chemicals in the cave before you go to bed." I stared at Uncle Ollie briefly, before looking at Bruce.

"He's Green Arrow, protects Star City. Sooner or later, I'll have you meet every body." He said with pure hatred and GA laughed.

"Ugh, I don't like people like that. They'll be giving me that face, critiquing everything I do. Anyway, Roy's good with a bow." I say, my eyes boring into Uncle Ollie's and I'm sure he's fighting the urge to piss his pants.

"So you taught your kid everything, huh"

"Yes. HE did." I say easily, before taking in the full impact of my words.I take a glance at Bruce who's...happy. I don't say much but I think he's hiding it somewhat from Oliver.

"He's been practicing more outside, going for hours. He's a speed monster too." He said, rubbing his temples as if my coercion wouldn't stay in his brain.

"Yeah, so...goodnight and good luck." I said, making the sign for 'live long and prosper' before bowing out. Dick grabbed me and gave me a tight hug, force-fed me a pill with some water and made me get into bed.

"Tomorrow's another benefit. Stay at the table this time okay?" he said, before I put myself to sleep.

* * *

><p>So this is somewhat enjoyable, being in this place. I'm wearing a white dress, with black flowers printed all over and Jason's with me, so I'm not lonely. I used the bathroom before I came and drank nothing so I could avoid leaving. Roy approved of Jason when he met him and was accustomed to join in our conversations since the topics had substance.<p>

"Alright, Question Of The Soul:If you had to get rid of one thing in the world, what would it be?"

"Easy, Pop stars who have no sense what so ever."

"Alex! What happened to, I don't know, terrorism, death, bombs?" He said, shaking his head.

"Sorry, Death is inevitable, and terrorism stems out of hatred, which is everlasting in this world full of envy, greed, and above all, hypocritical humans spreading propaganda through use of Fox News and other outlets." I said, biting my cookie. It looked like a small wonderland over here, full of cookies, cakes and other stuff I couldn't say.

"No doubt. Yeah, I should tell you. My dad is trying to use me to gain a corporate merger with your dad." He said, drinking his ginger ale as I raised an eyebrow. He has become the first person to acknowledge Bruce as my dad, and I couldn't say I didn't like it.

"You think so? I guess I'll oblige him for your sake." Bruce said, kneeling between the two of us. I put a cookie in his mouth and told him to be quiet.

"You can't just do that out of nowhere. You've got to check his credentials, the stocks, everything? Ugh, what have you been doing for the past few years?" I retorted, putting another cookie in his mouth because I wanted no answer.

"Thanks, . It's only because my auntie have cancer now. He doesn't think I know, but I saw the letter, they sent him. She'll need experimental drugs and the works since it's a little rare. Dad says they're lying and using her as an experiment." He says, putting his hand to the chair. I put my hand out and messed up his hair before jumping out of my seat.

_Do you have the time,  
>to listen to me whine,<br>about nothing and everything all at once?_

_I am one of those melodramatic fools,  
>neurotic to the bone no doubt about it<em>

"They're playing my song! Come one, Jason. Bruce, I'll see you later." I said, taking his hand and going into...I';m going to guess and say the bar of this place. We sang along by the edge, not trying to be completely inside until I saw a face that was familiar.

Evil. No doubt he would be placed at number one on my hit had to be one of the people who were in the tent when my parents died. I kept staring until he looked up at stared up at me. We stayed locked in that one looked for at least 3 minutes before whoever he was talking to put his hand in his face and started to looking around. I made sure to get his exact look to investigate later. no way was this chance getting away from me.

"C'mon Jason," I said, pulling him with me as we departed."I'm not liking this as much as I thought." We went back to the table, where everyone was and Jason, shook hands with Uncle Ollie, who gave him a was hiding a frown. How long were we gone? I leaned to my right to talk to Dick.

"E un om în acel loc de acolo, care este conectat la moarte. Ne-am luat pentru a investiga în curând." I rushed quickly, knowing Bruce would be trying to decipher it if I went to slow. Dick nodded and we sat there, everyone staring at someone else.

"So...when's this all over?" I asked, clicking my heels together and wishing for home. I sighed, when I was told an hour.

"Well,I've got to go see what my dad's up to. He might be worried or something. See you all soon.' He said, obviously uncomfortable by the stares he received from Bruce and Ollie. I rubbed my temples and Roy just started to laugh.

"You're what, seven, and imagine when you turn...twelve even, it going to be this times 100." He said, and I threw a cookie at his face, which he caught in his mouth.

"Ridiculous. We're all civilized people. And since I have no idea what you're talking about, I'll pretend like you said nothing at all.I'm taking a car home. Roy can stay over. We'll send a limo for you two. Don't bring anyone home that I don't know or I'll sniper shoot them with everything I've got."I said, getting up and going. We, of course were greeted by cameras before getting into the car.

"Hello again. This was a lot of fun, but I want to get home. Kids need..what is it again? Yeah, eight to ten hours of sleep a day. You do too, but you can't be late for work either. I admire that. See you all soon." I said, as the flash stunned my eyes and I got into the car, trying to keep my head on straight. I looked out the window and noticed something out of place.

"Main street. Wait Driver, we're supposed to go the other way." I said, and was given a tirade of laughter as a response. I looked at Roy, and they were both looking at me.

"Oh Hell."

* * *

><p><strong>There's a man in that place over there who's connected to the death. We've got to investigate soon.<strong>

****Alright, so that sums up the whole chapter by the last word. Anyway, I'll give you a small heads up. This story will be finished by December and the sequel will be out in January, since you all asked. In two more chapters, things are going to get very painful, very fast. It has possibly nothing to do with Zucco but everything to do with the Justice League, ohh...ominous. Well, love to you all. Review, ask your friends to read, all of that good stuff that makes me want to work harder.

Bad News for me, School starts in less than 2 weeks and I have absolutely nothing. No school supplies, clothes, any new stuff. Mom says that we'll go Saturday, but I'm wary. Anyone who's going to school now, I wish you all the best in your endeavors.


	14. Blood

So, I'm trying to update as much as I can now so that when school rolls around, you'll have enough reading material to last you while I slow everything down. I will take a week to complete a story that's on Hiatus and all in mid-September. I dont know how I'm even going to fit this all in my schedule. I think I'll just have to make two chapters on Saturday and update during the week or something, I really am unsure.

* * *

><p>"No. Way. AM .I .Going .Anywhere!" I screeched, moving forward and grabbing the man's head to bang it against the windshield twice. I gritted my teeth as I heard his surprise and tried not to feel bad about what I was doing.<p>

"Hit the damned brakes. NOW!" I yelled and he somewhat stopped, groaning as I felt a cold substance touch my hands. Block it all out, get back to business. We started to swerve until he made a sharp turn and stopped off the highway.

"What now?" He said, and I almost felt bad for the guy. I moved to the front of the small car and started to push him out. Roy opened the car door and I start to kick repeatedly at his stomach until he rolled out. Everyone got out of the car and we proceeded to move him into plain view. We all got back into the car, me in driver's, Roy taking shotgun and Dick in passenger.

"Next time, make sure there's no way for them to move first. Kidnapping 101." I said, speaking to him while looking out the window and locking all the doors. I looked back at Roy and Dick who were wide-eyed and somewhat scared. I huffed and looked around, my eyes falling on my bloody hands. I shuddered and tried to gain composure before turning to them and smirking.

"You're the scariest out of all of us. No Joke." He said lowly, making a small whistle as I restarted the car. I fixed all the mirrors and decided that reading that book about cars was good enough for me.I rolled up the windows too, happy that it was lightly tinted.

"Thank You. I'm going to drive us home. God be with us." I said, making a small cross, and saying Psalms 23 lowly before putting the car in drive. Oh God, I'm terrible at this. There was no traffic, but the red lights were hell. I almost ran ten in less then 20 minutes. We got home, but when I stopped the car, I realized I was out. I fell asleep right then, blood on my hands and prayers in my heart. How Corny. Roy got me out of car and put me on his back to bring me into the house.

"What in the hell happened?" I heard and my eyes widen minimally to see Bruce fuming. I waved and he and I think his blood ran cold. I could've laughed but I think I was already starting to break down from the felling of it all. How troublesome.

"There's blood on your hands. Why is there blood on your hands?" He said, grabbing me up an inspecting them fully. I almost pulled back, _almost._ I really wasn't in the mood to do anything crazy anyway.

"Turns out the driver isn't our driver. He probably at the hospital, getting interrogated for why he was found on the side of the road with possible concussion." I said, going into the kitchen to wash my hands. I started to make my way up the stairs and I was sure someone was calling me, but I didn't want to hear anyone's voice anymore so I went into my room and slammed the door. Slamming meant quiet, everyone knew.

I laid there quietly, looking at the ceiling and nothing else, wondering what I could do about the smell of it. It was a sickening sweet to me now, becoming more than just liquid I had taken. I could still feel it on my skin, know it was there. I went into the bathroom and grabbed a towel while turning on the water. I needed it to go away, I couldn't have it on me, reminding me of all the blood I've had to see. I felt that I was about to make myself bleed and I stopped, grabbing the mirror and looking myself in the eye.

Get a grip. It would always be there, whether I could see it or not. The blood that was sinking into my pores making itself a everlasting stain in the scheme that was my cells. The blood that would be fresh in my mind always. No matter what, this would be something to deal with. You fight a person for justice, they will bleed. I wanted to be an avenger, that came with losing a little bit of your peace of mind. I wanted to protect and serve, but without the nuisance of the police. I needed to realize that blood is in everyone and shouldn't be avoided.

Done. My aversion to the crimson liquid was now completely nullified. I came downstairs and apologized for not listening and I didn't stop there.

"I hate blood a bit. But I'm cool now, thought it over and everything. So...it's late. How about sleep? Or in Bruce's case, no sleep." I said, and Bruce raised an eyebrow as I walked away, whistling some mindless tune. Roy just got some food from the fridge as if he lived here now and followed with Dick in tow.

* * *

><p>It must have been bad, it had to be. There was no way I wasn't in trouble. Bruce was composed and quiet as he handed me the newspaper. Dick looked at me and I took the newspaper in my hands, going through it in two minutes without making any sounds. He raised an eyebrow and I decided that I would be cruel, as cruel as possible. Everyone was quiet, I almost thought Dick left but it was Alfred. Smart Man.<p>

"Neither of them are dead, I did nothing wrong. Joker's at a disadvantage. Life is easier, show me the downside." I said, passing it back to him and starting on my muffin. He looked a little angered. Uncle Ollie gaped before composing himself and pressing the bridge of his nose with his forefingers, looking down. He was unsure of what hellhole this unsuspecting child was trying to make this man open.

"Great, you know what you're doing. NOW. Sooner or later, you won't, then what?" He said, and I poured myself some orange juice. Roy was scared, he had looked at Bruce. The Batglare was in full effect, the weak AND the strong would NOT survive. But I did it, I looked into his eyes. I needed this, more than anything, I needed a reason. Dick could've been enough, but now...who knows.

"Give me a reason to believe that I don't know what I'm getting myself into. I- I can't_ live like this._ You're the one, running after everything this world has to offer, knowing that you're only making a dent in the mass murdering machine that is the world today. If this is what you want, go ahead but I'm going to do my best, and who knows? It might be better than yours." I said, leaving the table and grabbing my jacket to go outside. How troublesome he's become, trying to protect me all the time.

I kept walking and left the manor's extensive grounds, wondering where I was going until someone grabbed my shoulder and I reached back instantly to throw him over.

Smell. He smelled horrible, and it took me a while to register it as booze. He had bare arms too and I could see that he also did heroin. The different needle marks that marred his skin where easily seen.

"I need my stuff. Bring me to the place. Main street, main street. A wonderful place for me. Help me, will ya?" He slurred, drooling on the floor. I pulled my scarf out of my jacket and wrapped it around my neck and mouth. I had messed up my hands with that towel and know I'm helping a heroin addict who could have a different blood type and get me sick, here we go.

"Come on." I said, letting him use my shoulder as leeway. Weirdly enough, we didn't look out of place. Everyone there was in pain or dying. I couldn't help it when I saw the kids. Crying because they were hungry. I gave each of them five dollars and to forget my face. Which they did easily to run to the nearest deli. I kept walking with the man until I saw a hospice.

"We're on main street now and we're going into the building, okay?" I said, and bring him to the desk with the nurse.

"I don't know him but he needs help. I need to get home before my dad worries." I said as she took him from me and I ran away, wanting to get back home. I discarded the scarf in a trashcan and was pleased to know that there was no trace of what I'd done with me as I made my way back...home. I wanted to go back inside but at the same time I couldn't. I opted to just lay in the grass and let everything sink away, finally be able to think about important things like-

"ALEX. There you are." Roy says, laying down next to me. I sighed and tried to ignore looks over at me and his blue eyes, like the deepest part of an ocean, pierce me. I bite back a laugh. Blue eyes and red hair, what a color eyes were so alike but so different. Mine were crystal clear blue like a light ocean or the sky even. His were the opposite.

"You scared him, leaving like that. Next time, just run to your room or something. Shit like that ain't cool." He said, moving away and laying down.

"I told you about my dad, taught me everything I know. All of us know what it's like to lose our parents young. Queen...he lost his parents when he was, I don't know in his 20's. Learned archery cause he was stuck on an island, alone. What I'm thinking right now is, you've got to calm down. I really think that if you take it easy, everything will out. We all care about you Alex, there's no need to-"

I grabbed him into a hug, which was easy since he couldn't react. He laughed lightly and sat up, making himself able to pick me up bridal-style.

"Roy, put me down." I said when we got into the house. He started walking up the stairs and left me outside my door.

"You're room is really nice, you got those posters up quick." He said, putting American Idiot in the CD player. Saint Jimmy came on and I fought the urge to beat Roy up and dance at the same time.

"Whatever. I'm taking a nap. Go hang out with Dick and stuff." I said, putting the covers over myself as I got into my bed.

"Roy." I whispered, as I heard him reopen the door. I could've have stayed quiet and pretended but it was impossible.

"I'm scared.' I said simply, and I heard no response, just my door click. I pulled my blankets to surround me, hopefully keep me safe as I closed my suddenly, I could swear that I saw those pair of dark eyes with the same evil smile and jet-black hair. My hand bolted towards my own face as I cringed behind it, holding back the tears that I knew could never come.

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><p>Coughs erupted the room he just left and Roy fought the urge to attend to his little sister. She was dying inside, hurting her throat because she couldn't cry. The sounds were horrible but he knew she needed time. She needed to work through her problems, he thought. HE scoffed at the notion of being so close to the kid after such a short time and returned to the table, watching Queen and Wayne stop their conversation.<p>

"She's fine."No she's not, his mind told him. "She's just...worried about everything. Needs to realize people are there for her, but she hasn't yet." He said. Bruce gave him a small smile and a nod, something unexpected fro Batman but nonetheless needed.

"Well, We've got to get to work. Take care of them, will you? I won't be back until tomorrow night. There's pressing matters that I have to attend to. He said, walking out with Bruce.

"Wally will be coming over, I expect Allen will stay with you all." They leave silently, Queen giving him a hug before going. The door closes, and Roy realizes he's all alone again. When he realizes that how he always is, alone with no one to hold on to, he's unsure of what exactly he's feeling. He sits on the floor leaning against the kitchen cabinet and thinks. His mind becomes blank an before he knows it, the tears come to his eyes and release, giving way to all the pent-up sadness, he kept.

"Roy, I'm not going to say are you okay cause I know you aren't. I can tell by your face that you just feel alone but you don't get it at all. WE are here. Me and Alex, we know what you feel. Wally knows better than any of us, being alone practically his whole life. Don't isolate and be sad about it. You're like our big brother, we can't lose that now." Dick said with a small smile before placing himself next to Roy.

Coughs came louder than before and Alex emerged with a huge blanket before going to be in the middle of them. They each covered themselves and slept there before an unsuspecting Alfred came home with groceries many hours later.

"Goodness! Master Roy, Master Dick, Miss Alex the kitchen is NOT an acceptable place for sleeping." He said, and they grianed to show they were still living and whatnot. Roy brought the blanket back upstairs (Alex jumped out before he could take her too), and they ate chicken and rice. The usual went on until they retired to bed.

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><p>"Wally, I've got it." I said, passing him the beaker that I had placed in a sealed briefcase that I had "acquired" from the BatCave. I reached into my pocket and took my pill right there, in his face. He smiled, it faltered, but he hugged me nonetheless.<p>

"You're just letting me know that it won't happen again. Good. Anyway, thanks. I should be done in a month of two." He said, we paused as Barry came and gave him a tight hug before leaving. HE had been called into work at the last moment.

"Ugh. We need to do something." I said, trying to look at the reast of them. All four of us were laying on the ground and were just throwing ideas of what to do around.

"We could teach them Romanian." Dick proposed and Roy and Wally shot up, eager to learn. Roy said he''d teach us a dialect of Native American, Lakhota ,so we could have our own secret language to help us if there was trouble. We went through almost anything we could and decided we would have a full conversation, me doing English, Roy doing Romanian, Wally doing Lakhota and Dick choosing any language. It would go in that order for a while.

"The building's falling down." I started.

"Noi ar trebui să ruleze**(1)**"

"Opawige num oyate**(2)**"

"Eh, am putea lua le**(3)**" Dick said and we all started laughing.

"Alright, we should get the whole language down in... 2 months. Then, we'll do Spanish and French. It's best to learn you friends native language. Seriously, I'm still iffy on English." I said, while Roy punched my shoulder.

"You've got something a level higher then an eidetic memory. Shut up, child. What we need to worry about is why you can't be nice." He said.

"Bruce has a reason for why he doesn't want you out there, he wants to protect you. He couldn't protect you twice, watched parts of yourself leave in front of his face. Saw the sadness on your eye when your parents died, saw the fright in your eyes when Zucco's men took you guys away." He said, turning away from us. We resumed our positions on the floor.

"I know, but I don't want to see that happen to anyone else either. In the end, someone's going to pull the shorttick and deal with all the pain. That's what I signed up for. I'm more than capable to deal with this." I said, and I could feel Roy raising an eyebrow.

"Wait till you have to recover dead bodies, watch more people die in front of you. Then what?"

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><p>(1)- We should run<p>

(2) Two hundred people

(3) Eh, we could take them

Just wanted to get that part out of the way before I give you the important stuff. SO, #1, mailbag starts next chapter, anything you need to know about any character will be available to you if you ask for it. I should have done it earlier but I couldn't.

Anyway.

_SHOUTOUT TO KEEPMOVINGFORWARD FOR DOING EXACTLY WHAT HER USERNAME SAID._

__Hopefully, you'll make an account and you can help me along in my chapters. I'm almost close to the place where I'm stuck. if you guys want anything in this story,

Ask and ye shall recieve.

How wierd does this AN look? I'm pretty happy with its psychotic tendencies. You know you love it.

Anyway.

Review and the like, show me your love. I have story ideas that I will display next chapter.


	15. We All Fall Down

So, I've got that chapter you've all been waiting for since...I'm thinking the beginning of this story. I owe this chapter to all of the people who have reviewed this story.

Mailbag:

readingisdabest :Thank you for your support! It's nice to know you're enjoying this story as much as I am. If you have any story ideas you want written out, I'll do it in a heartbeat.

keepmovingforward2: You got a shoutout because you kept me moving. At times I didn't even want to continue cause of all my problems but I saw how much you liked the story and I knew I needed to get my shit together so you could enjoy the story.

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><p>"Wait till you have to recover dead bodies, watch more people die in front of you. Then what?" He said, and that's when I got to thinking, I had something important on my mind. Dead people=my parents=the killers=that guy at the party. How can something like that slip my mind?<p>

"No!" I yelled, bring everyone's attention to me before I face-palmed.

"Dick, the guy. The one who was there when our parents died. Remember? The one I saw at the benefit. I almost forgot...well no, I can't do that. I almost let him go into the recess of my mind." I exclaimed and Roy had a puzzled expression. I understood, he wasn't there with me and Jason. And I didn't tell him after the fact.

" It's the disorder.I can pull out memories but if I haven't thought about something that happened recently, I tend to never think about it again unless some deliberately says anything that happened in that time. Roy, go get food. We need to be focused if we want to make a plan to catch this guy." I said, as Roy placed some drumsticks in front of us.

"SO what would be the first step?" Dick asked, grabbing one. He was always quick to the point when he needed to be.

Each of seemed to have our own roles in this group. Roy was the serious but funny one, being the oldest he had to take responsibility for each of us. Wally was the sensitive and reserved one, but he was also our resident genius. He knew more about science than we did. Dick was the light one, who kept everyone happy and would probably be the one to make sure no one had problems. And me, the man...well, girl with the plan. I kept everything going, made sure everyone had a purpose. But I would think our #1 priority is making sure I don't die because of my illness.

"Finding out his name, who he works for. Maybe there was more to your parents..." Wally dropped the sentence and looked away from us. He always knew when to stop even if he didn't have to.

"Death. Yeah, you're right. More than one mob boss could've wanted them gone." I said, Roy agreeing with me. This was becoming bad a little too fast. IF this progresses, we'll really get into trouble, huge infinitely impossible to get out of trouble.

"You should ask Bruce. HE knows police, just draw him and give someone the picture. It shouldn't be a problem."Wally said, and we voiced that agreement.

'So...you want us to help you go through with all of this?" Roy asked, and I nodded. Of course we would need them, doing things alone was just unnecessary these days. They were my best friends now, I could trust them with anything. They knew that, and they felt like they were obligated to protect me now. I don't like it, but I can't say I wouldn't do the same.

"Well, I can draw it but I'll need help tracking the guy down. So we'll do that together. Then we might just get some answers ourselves. Problem is, he knows my face so undercover is out. We'd have to just be low, I guess."

"Won't be a problem." Dick says and we fist bumps and the like before just watching Power Rangers. Wally gets to stay the night but right when everyone goes to bed, I go to the Batcave. There's paper and pencils so I get to drawing this guy's face. I make a pretty good composite using what I know from drawing books. Hazel eyes,somewhat prominent cheekbones, brown hair and I was able to get all of that into a good picture. After I did it a few times, I used the scanner connected to the computer and it takes me 30 minutes to figure out how to use the facial recognition software. After a while, I start to doze off, the scan taking longer than I thought.

"Aidan Wells, 28, known worker for Rupert Thorne, mob boss allied with Tony Zucco." I hear as hands are placed on my shoulders. I look up and I see Batman who with...Green Arrow. I look forward and am sure that's the person who was at the benefit. Mine eyes will never betray me, if they do..well, then I must be dead.

"I'm thinking it was a purely money founded relationship. They trade protection for money. He was hoping to make a profit from this. Thorne had to have known. I say that guy, at the benefit. He was at the tent when they died. I want to know his part in this." I said tiredly, knowing a yawn could escape at any given moment.

"I'll find out for you. I thought we got everyone from that incident, but to think Thorne had anything to do with it, that's just weird. Maybe they had planned to split that money." Batman said and I finally yawned.

Thanks dad...I mean...yeah."

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><p>"She calls you dad?" Green Arrow blurted as she left, watching Bruce continue to go through his database for any meetings he may have had with him.<p>

"Yes." It did sound matter-of-fact, but on the other hand, it was somewhat elated, and he could've have been smiling. Just that was enough when Flash gave him that small hug before sitting down and sounding exasperated as fuck.

"Well then, I'm truly done. If you think she ready to fight in Gotham, let her. I've seen the kid, she's good. And Wally says she's his best friend along with Roy and Richard so..I'm all for her watching your back.

"Who let you in, anyway?" Bruce said, looking at the man's rap sheet. He was one of those calm insane ones, smart enough to think of a plan but was very volatile when backed into a corner. Easy to find, hard to catch type of guy.

"Doesn't matter. So...you bringing them to the Watchtower to meet everyone?" Flash asked and Green Arrow just looked expectant, waiting for that answer. However,there was none, he said nothing at all.

"I see." Flash began, making a small smirk."Don't worry about them, I'll take care of it. I'm thinking we'll need..Raven to change their minds just a bit. She's the type of girl who really won't care when she gets older, won't she? Anyway.. Oliver you've got a prodigy with the bow, you like wasting talent?"

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><p>"So, everything is going to plan. Only problem, finding the right conditions to turn Wally into a Flash." Dick said, still staring at the ceiling. How weird of him at this time, to not want to make eye contact.<p>

"Just got to wait for a thunderstorm, the next one in your area is in...3 months. Then, you'll be in the hospital for a month recovering and who knows...maybe I'll let you go and meet him." I said with a smile and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright, alright. You know, I don't even think this will work. If it does, I'll be running to your house everyday." He said, and I snorted on air. How impossible to do, choke on what keeps you alive.

"Well, I've got Batman on lock, Roy needs to find Green Arrow and Wally...you've got to get your uncle to help you with the experiment. He's a scientist for gods sake he must know this stuff."

"Alright, let's stop this. We need to figure out what exactly we are going to do for...Aidan Wells."

* * *

><p>"I'm going to tell him all about it tomorrow. Don't worry about wasting talent. What about you? That kid of yours is trying to copy your experiment and become a Flash." Green Arrow said, just wanting to move the spotlight off of him It wasn't hard,Flash was just a little more pressing than him.<p>

"I'll give you that, but even if he does, I can slow his training forever and a day. It isn't even a problem. The what those four will create together. Together, with all the knowledge they'll have in the coming years...They'll have no choice but to join and even lead the Justice League. And you don't want your kids saving the world, getting hurt, dying-"

"Who said we couldn't go in there place? If I had too, I'd do it."

"Same. No hesitation to save Roy at all."

"Good, we all agree on something. I just don't like one thi-"

"What, Allen?" Queen said exasperated. "Just say what you need to so we can stoop this situation, now. I am absolutely sure Sportsmaster is arriving in the city tonight so get on with it." He said, stretching out his fingers as if ready to take out an arrow.

"All four of them, working together. Don't you think, adding with the resources, things will go just a bit too far?"

"No." Batman said, making the last few clicks in his keyboard before putting the computer into hibernation and leaving with Green Arrow and Flash. When they left, it just seemed to be unfortunate because of the warning placed by police days before.

_This man is always armed and dangerous, he fears nothing at all as long as the gun is in his hands. HE won't speak, but you must, and if what you said isn't enough, he will shot to kill...everyone._

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><p>"Alright, I got the info, we need to find his usual places, which are all here; given to us by an unknown source. We can go find him now and take a few pictures. Then prepare to take him out by December, if we take our time. Remember we have school, so don't use all your time on this. Wally, you already have your own project your working on." I said, giving him a small nod. I didn't know exactly what we should have done that could have been worse or better. We left the Manor quickly after Dick got all the tools we would need.<p>

We went out and made a perimeter at the park. I sat at a bench, Wally was by the swings two minutes from me, Dick was in the tennis courts close to a small fountain. Roy was farthest, sitting on the steps of a house on 1st street almost 8 minutes away from the each had a digital camera and a small headset that would be used for also carried a small tracer so if we had the chance we could plant it on him. We all had a story if we were caught by anyone who thought we were suspicious. I had to wear glasses since he knew who I was, and he would figure it out immediately.

"I see him. Aidan is heading down 1st and is holding a briefcase. I think we need to take it from him. Alex, didn't you bring the briefcase to hold the cameras?" Roy asked over the headset. He sounded pretty happy, since this was basically our first mission together. It was just one thing, it wasn't even that serious...serious comes after this. You get deeper and deeper and then there's no way out but death.

"Yeah, I'll take the stuff out. Dick, you've got to make a diversion while Wally switches the briefcases. We need this to be perfect. he will already be armed, I repeat he will already be armed. Don't do a fake sickness or anything. Wally, get the briefcase I've got. Roy, if he finds out quickly and tries to chase, you take him down. We good? Great. Operation Killswitch commences now." I said, and handed the briefcase over to Wally, who went to the fountain Aidan had just arrived at. He sat on the other side making sure he couldn't be seen. Aidan was just about to open the briefcase when-

"Alex, I'm at the park..No, I didn't think Bruce would get mad if I went. Well, he's not there now is he? You know he left with Queen in the morning. I don't know Alex, figure it out." He said in a phone that he had(not even activated) with a sigh before sitting right next to Aidan.

He put the briefcase down gingerly before looking over at Dick

"Are you the Grayson kid? The one taken in by Wayne?" He said a bit eagerly and I fought the urge to stand and choke him out. He may not have done anything, but he will soon. I would put as much money as I could on that.

"Yeah. Oh, you heard what I was just talking about didn't you? How embarrassing! I was talking to sister, Alex, and she home alone right now because I left without telling her. I should have but I'm going home now so it shouldn't be a problem." He said before easing up to go until Aidan reached out.

"Wait, let me talk to you for a minute." He said and Dick made himself look slightly startled before giving Aidan a long look before easing himself back down to sit. In that time, Wally was able to switch the briefcases, get up and leave the park quickly. Roy made his way to leave and I decided i would have to get Dick out of there. He was a walking ransom, I couldn't leave him alone. I ran, appearing somewhat breathless before the both of them.

"I..came...looking for you. You want to get home. Bruce is coming, let's get going." said, grabbing his hand. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw that he had pulled out a gun and had it pointed at my head. He smiled and I smiled back. If he shot me, Dick would get him before the next pull back, that thing wasn't automatic. I felt as though he could see my thinking, it was just so...sinister the way he looked at me.

"See you around. Oh and by the way, who was that tall guy, the one who just left with a briefcase a while ago? Hmm, maybe that was for you." I said solemnly, and quickened my pace before he understood. We ran like hell once we were out of view, being extremely careful as we locked all the doors in the house, closed the windows and sat in the kitchen praying for someone to come home.

"Don't open the briefcase until Bruce comes home!" I said, grabbing it ad sitting on the floor, looking disturbed as hell. I was going to make sure we were safe. I started to look around at the small space around me, I was having a panic attack. They were all here, the only family I had left, the family I'd just received could be slaughtered because of this one plan. I was surely going to protect them, no doubt, I wouldn't allow anyone to take them from me. No one. God, my head, it was killing me. The pills, when was the last time-

Click.

"Holy Crap, I don't want to die, domnul păstorul meu i nu se vrea, el mă face să mă mint (1)..." I started until Bruce and Queen came into the room and I almost cried, even though I can't. I seriously, jumped into Bruce's arms, literally.

"Oh thank god, you're home. We're not going to die. Jur, dacă nu ai venit aș fi avut atac de panică mai rău vreodată." I said and Queen started to laugh, as Bruce pried me off of him. i couldn't help it, I was on the verge of an aneurysm a minute ago.

"What?" He said, and I shook my head really fast.

"I swear if you didn't come I would've had the worse panic attack ever." I translated and tried to latch onto his waist. I started to feel myself getting dizzy and realized something. I burned it all of, the pills, they were burned out by my brain. Everything was spinning. Until, it all went to hell.

I screeched loudly and held onto Bruce trying to convey my pain but it just wasn't getting through until I felt that warm sensation in my throat and the liquid dripped out of my mouth, like a faucet that hadn't been turned off all the way. I started to cough and get it all out while kneeling at Bruce feet. He grabbed my shoulders and leveled his face with mine, and I could tell me was getting paler by the second. He was wiping my face and I think Queen almost fainted but instead just fell on the floor. Liquid, running down my face, oh god I was crying blood. I knew it wasn't enough, I knew I'd never cry. I was screaming now,What was I screaming? Help? The pain was becoming to much. MY dreams were coming to light right in my face. Memories, surrounding me, like a tape recorder that you just couldn't pull out no matter how hard you tried.

_Help Wally Bruce...MAMICA, Richard, wake up...don't leave me here alone...is the woman okay?...NO ONE WANTS A MESSED UP KID...Just help me, save me...please...I HATE this...I want it all to end...Of course the pain will continue...THAT"S WHO YOU ARE...what are you..._

"Alex! No, stop this from happening!"

_Different voices are swirling now in me...the voices of everyone I've ever heard... singing...i can hear them singing... songs of yester years...Culcă-te, puiuţ micuţ,(2)...Mamica's music...Go to sleep, yes...I'll do just that...But I must say goodbye  
><em>

"What is going on! She's convulsing!"

_Wait, NO!...this is all wrong...my family...the family...bring it back to me...I HATE THIS ALL...why me...WHY ME...What is this...WHAT ARE YOU!_

_WE ARE YOUR MIND.  
><em>

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><p>The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he maketh me to lie...(1)<p>

Go to asleep my tiny baby,(2)

So...yeah, I basically ended it there. I really don't think anyone's going to give this one glance and be able to know exactly what I'm doing. Eh, first person who can review and tell me what exactly it is will get a story from me that I will write exactly the way they want it. Promises, promises.

In other news, school starts for me on Thursday, still haven't figured out how the H.W they give will affect me writing stories.

One problem, I've got an unfinished story so I've got to do something about that. I'll do it...mid September, I 's actually good stuff. Killing Artemis does my soul a little good. NO I REALLY DID NOT DO THAT.

Um...if anyone wants my twitter I could give you that..except for the fact that we probably have nothing in common.

Lastly...WHOVIANS UNITE. YOU ALL BETTER GO ON BBC AMERICA AND WATCH THAT SHOW.

Seriously lastly, Read and Review. Reading scores are down everywhere, this will help your mind.


	16. Deep Sleep

I think the last chapter came out a bit rough but I know you all wanted the secret to be revealed. I put her in a coma, yes, but that's just how it is for this girl. I've figured out how this story will go and it's a good type of flow. I think you'll like it a lot. I got the idea from one of the reviews. Thanks for your continued support, it has always meant a lot to me.

yeah, enjoy Batman's emotions...they may never appear again. If you have any ideas for me, PM. That is all.

Mailbag:

readingisdabest: It should've been all of the above, and all of your theories are valid. Well, the voices aren't actually voices. If you want to know, you could read the next author's note. I don't really think I could've made her take the wrong medicine. I mean, she would have known, just from, maybe taste or reading the box. And the briefcase..well, the briefcase is just so very important.

Lilliana Rider: I HAVE UPDATED. DONT WORRY, BE HAPPY

keepmovingforward: Thank you so much for your concern. Since school starts tomorrow for me, things have settled down because everyone is hung up on their own shit. And thanks for taking the time to review even if you're going through the same things.

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><p>"Haven't you all noticed...they still aren't here." Wonder Woman said, tapping her nails rhythmically on the table.<p>

"They haven't been here for a week. If they weren't here, why would they come now?" Green Lantern said, leaning back on the chair. This meeting was exclusive to the members they had before it became international about a year ago. It was going to get harder and harder for the Justice League, especially with Ra's coming back sometime in the future, if not now.

"It shouldn't be a problem you know. We should be able to carry on without them. The fact that it is just shows the League isn't...strong at all." He concluded, not wanting to continue with the conversation. Continuing the conversation would just be asking for trouble from everyone else in the room.

"Well than, let's just-"

He came in without a sound, not even taking the mere seconds to note that every conversation had ended just as soon as he had appeared. He just sat there, giving them a look that said "I don't want to be here.". He had just...changed. It was as if he had aged, more than anyone in that meeting room had ever seen before. In the span of one week, how had he changed so much?

"Flash, what happened?" Superman started, keeping his tone light as Flash fell out of time. As if he still wasn't there. It was almost as if you didn't want to talk to him just because of the aura that radiated from him now. Happy and light, that's how it's supposed to be, now it was just...Anger and pain. "Batman and Green Arrow, where are they...Flash." He said, worry marring his features. A watchtower without Batman...how long would it take before it all fell apart?

"He won't be here for a while. Something really bad happened, so..." He let the sentence drop there, knowing everyone understood what it meant. Batman wouldn't be here for a while. It wasn't even like they thought about how bad it could be. No one could deny how important he was to the Justice League. No one could say the League would survive without him.

"She went into a...coma...a week ago and it was terrible. At first we thought it was internal bleeding but...her brother said different. He was cryptic as hell but it was like they all shared a secret but it wasn't there to tell. It was like they'd be damned to even speak to us at all." He said, staring into the table. He couldn't face them, knowing that he could be doing better things than this.

"I can't believe this, happening out of nowhere. And we just saw her, happy and smiling...Wasn't she even training herself to help Batman? This would set her back so far." Dinah said, shaking her head minimally. _A coma..._Just terrible for a young child.

"Set her back? She's a child, she shouldn't even be-"

"Don't you dare!" Flash spat with an anger no one had seen before. "That kid, sometimes I could swear she had more maturity than most of the Justice League. God, I wouldn't mind if she joined today!" Flash said leaving the room, going to check on Alex. Why would he want to stay here when he had better things to do.

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><p><em>"All my fault..." she had whispered, her head in Bruce's lap, tasting the blood on her teeth before trying to move her heavy lidded eyes to see every one. Oh how beautiful they all were. How beautiful were the people she trusted beyond all else. She realized her face was wet, with a liquid that wasn't her own. There were tears splattered on her face and almost giving the premise that she was crying herself.<em>

_"Alex,no! You're wrong, it ours!, Alex!...Alex." Wally choked out, already knowing that the worst had come. Now it was just the trick of the draw. Coma or Death?_

_"Hey... don't be sad. You all promised me... remember? You wouldn't be sad for me...you'd be okay because I knew." She said, staring into Bruce's eyes so he would know he was included. HE didn't speak just looked at his daughter. He had failed to do the one thing he had believed was most important to him. Taking care of the Grayson's children, HIS children. He failed.  
><em>

_"Guys...Love you." It ended in a smile, a bloody small smile. It was so quiet, no one could speak. She wasn't breathing at all. Bruce had bent his face to hers, whispering what only god would know to her. He was repeating "I'm sorry" many times, thinking that would keep her alive. It wouldn't. Her eyes were blotched with blood and she had stared at him, not knowing the nightmares that would follow him unless she woke up and made everything okay.  
><em>

_"She's not dead, we need to stop this. Remember "It's all in the calculations" We need to help her. Wally, find an empty room with a cleared bed and call your dad. Dick, go get a respirator, EKG machine and an portable air pump so you have time. Bruce, carry her." Roy said, and they did exactly that.  
><em>

_"What happened!" Allen said, checking the machine and Alex. Dick, Wally, and Roy looked like they'd died, and even though he assured them that there was a chance of her waking up, there facial expression didn't change, Dick only said one thing.  
><em>

_"I should've known. She is my sister."_

* * *

><p>Should've known what? What could Dick have done that would have prevented any of this from happening? Unless, the secret she held had to do with this? Why wouldn't they have said before. What could he have done that would make her so untrustworthy of him. And the fact that Wally and Roy seemed to know it as well, almost made it concrete that she didn't trust him.<p>

"Dick, I need you to be serious with me right now. Alex needs our help, if I knew what was wrong, I could help her. Just..tell me." Bruce said lightly piercing into Dick's eyes at the same time. Wally looked to each of them multiple times in the exchange before sighing with a slight exaggeration.

"If Alex woke up right now, she would tell you. We promised not to say anything to a soul. She made us promise on her life, there's no way I'd betray something like that. She wouldn't be able to trust after she woke up. And anyway, what do you think we've been doing grieving? We're coming up with ways to fix this. Just...go talk to her, maybe you'll get a reaction." Wally said, leaving them to possibly go to the bathroom while passing Bary on the way.

He held a piece of paper in his hand, shaking it a bit. "I'm going to check on Alex, but before that, the results of the blood test and the CT scan. It says... there was nothing in her system. If there was, we wouldn't be able to find it anyway, the CT scan shows that-he smacks it once for emphasis- her brain burns toxins quickly. This girl...is smarter than she looks, if that's even possible. Her brain waves are just so...wow! That's the only problem, this would kill her. Well, in theory." He said before opening her eyes and checking slowly. It was uncomfortable for everyone in the room, watching an immobile Alex not react to anything, when she could react to anything just a few days before.

"Hey Alex, I'm going to attach these to your head. got them from a top secret place and they can help me completely understand your brain, okay? Let's get started." He said, attaching different electrodes to her head, just putting more wires into her then she already had. He just sat there for a long time looking at it before making a small giggle.

"I see." He said, before another laugh escaped him. It was freaky as hell, and no one wanted to say anything about it. Flash+insane=Scariest force in the known universe.

"What's going on Allen?" Bruce said preemptively, not wanting to give the kids false hope. It was unusual to see him happy again, since he had been doing this every day since she entered the coma. Each day he had become somewhat more accustomed to it, only because he had more hope than anyone else. Mostly because, he could hear Waly sobbing at night. There was no way we would let them down.

"She's awake in there, somewhat. She may just be able to hear you guys while asleep like this. Her waking up depends on either her own will or us getting Martian Manhunter to pick up her case...if he can. The brain waves she has are maybe even more complex than he is used to." Flash was beginning to ramble now, not really focusing on everyone else. He could've even been speed talking, who knew.

'Well, whatever it is. Alex is alive in there, and she'll be back. Just be a bit patient with her. She likes to take her time with things." Flash made a reassuring smile but was almost taken aback when he saw Bruce make a smile back. IT was...nice. Weird but nice. A person wouldn't want to get used to it, the false sense of security Bruce didn't know he was giving off, but Flash knew. He knew Batman's feelings well.

"Alright then, go get some sleep. You don't want Alex to see you looking so...that. Wally, we've got to get home!" He said, leaving Bruce and Alex alone. The small child, laid in rest bearing a hospital gown, unaware of anything that was going on out here in this real world.

It was so quiet, it seemed no one was there. Just the sound on the machine showing that she was alive. Bruce sat on the chair by the bed and slowly put his hand over hers.

"I promised your parents I would take care of you and I failed them. I'm just..." He dropped the sentence and left, knowing the only way to make any of this better was to make sure that when she opened her eyes, she saw a better world.

* * *

><p><em>WE ARE YOUR MIND.<em>

"Well, okay then. However, there is no we. It's just me. I'm making you up, a...physical representation of my thought, ergo me." I said as I looked at myself. It was so dark in here, a very sad state for my mind. All I saw was a girl, almost eight, wearing a black tank top, shorts and purple converses. Aw, my mind has fashion sense.

"Then believe that. Well, your mind is asking you a question now. Where do you think your body is?" She says moving forward. I step back out of habit, I just...can't look at myself, talk to myself. It's too much on my...brain. but my brain is fine. isn't it?

"My mind is me, so I'm asking my self this question. Wait, change what I said before. You're also partly my subconscious as well. Anyway, I think I'm at the house, being taken care of by Bruce and my friends." I say and get no response. Then she snaps her fingers and like that, we're transported to the circus.

"Eh, I was thinking..well, you don't believe I think but I was." She says and I believe she was going to tell me the place she would have went other than this. I try to keep myself calm and keep listening. It occurs to me that since this is my mind, it can still affect me while I'm in my coma.

"It's alright since there's somewhere to sit -we each sat on the bleachers- I'm cool" I say and she smirks. Ew, I don't think I ever want to smirk ever again. It looks so devious, this is reserved for undercover missions.

"Great. You suffered a small brain bleed which put you in this coma. You'll get out as soon as you can figure everything out." She says, stretching a bit. Ugh, why does my mind have to be so mean about everything?

"Figure what out. And please, don't get cryptic, you're my mind, make it easy for me." I say and she stifles a laugh. I can't understand it but I know its because I haven't even begun to understand what exactly is going on.

"Fine. You're hiding something from yourself and you have to examine yourself to figure out what it is. This is your mind and you must travel it and remember, truly what it means to be Alex. Then, you have to follow it up when you awaken." She says, starting to disappear as she finishes the sentence. I want to yell and scream but I know it would be to no avail, however, I just need one question to be answered.

"So tell me, what goes on in my mind, what am I hiding from myself?" I say out loud and see a door. On the top it says boldly, "the mind and times of Alexandra Mary Grayson" Oh wow, I wonder what that must be. I open the door and peer inside.

Then I close it. I just sit there, staring at that door and wonder how far my mind expects to go with all of this.

_"ALL THE WAY."_

* * *

><p>So guys, give me a review of what you think is behind the door, what you might want to be behind the door...SO just leave a review of that.<p>

In other news, This story will have either one or two sequels depending on what I decide. This story will end in less than...maybe 50 chapters if I map it out completely tomorrow. She''ll be age 12 when this story ends so look out for that. The second story will be the Young Justice timed story and it may use some of the episodes in the show. She'll be aged 16 when it ends and then I might make a third one that goes over Invasion and a bit more depending on how the story goes. I'll say one thing only. That Roy thing, it just don't sit well to me. Roy is just wonderful and I don't think Alex could be deceived. That whole mole thing had me so angry. I could do so much better in making him the mole. Have him captured, they place something in his eye that reacts with him when he says a word of some type. It can self destruct and kill him, maybe Alex knows and trys to help. He gets depressed, does drugs and the like, gets hooked, I don't know. I'll think up some more of that later.


	17. Find Me

Alright, it has come to my attention that some of the same three people are reviewing my story frequently and I feel the need to give them their own story dedicated to them.

Mailbag:

Keepmovingforward: I know it is. Just means I'll keep writing and updating a little bit more frequently. The teachers in my school tend not to give H.W on Fridays so I'll spend that day, typing as much as I can so you can have a new chapter almost every other day.

readingisdabest: You're smart too. I hadn't really even thought about the different things I could do with the story. You actually gave me a perfect way for Alex is grow as a person and as a character so I just wanted to thank you for your review.

Liliana Rider: NO. YOURE AWESOME. I have updated, you are welcome.

SparrowSky1: I happy to know I've got another person following my story. Thanks for the support and I hope to see more of your reviews.

* * *

><p>This was insane, all of this. I hated it, every single part of this great ball of hell. Who really had to decide and make me have to do this? Did I really think inside that I should go through this? And for what? I haven't hidden anything from myself, never. I haven't let anything go. I should just get all of this over with, just so I can get home.<p>

"Dick, I'm coming home." I said, opening the door and stepping inside, trying not to fell what I'm feeling know what I know. It like a flat screen now, but it spans the entire wall, commanding my attention. I see the next door and I race to it, grabbing the knob and seeing if I can open it before I hear it play.

"Ahh!" The screen yelled behind me and I banged on the door, praying that this wouldn't keep going. I could already tell where this one was going. The first time they realized I was feeling this way.

_'Mamica, you're hurt! Just like every time. It's hurts mamica, every time I get hurt. I hate this." I said, as she hugged me and rubbed circles into my back, trying to relieve that invisible pain.__ No one understood, why I felt that way after mom fell down. No one understood that when I saw her hurt, i remembered every time I had seen someone get hurt here, and me too. It was just so...painful. It felt as if it was a month earlier again and I had cut my finger. I'm three, so everything hurts more than it really does.  
><em>

_"Look at my face." She says, as she does every time to stop the descent. It was like a special power she held for her own. When I saw her smile, I could feel every time she did and the happiness that I couldn't control. It was like a breath of fresh air, knowing that with my mom, I didn't have to be scared of the pain. It would go away because my mom would be with me forever.  
><em>

_WHAT A LIE.  
><em>

I sat there and stared at her face, knowing this wouldn't help at all. She needed to be there to instill that blissful happiness that only she could give me. I didn't want to hear this, remember my last hope in life had left me. I waited, waited for that memory of her face looking at me as she fell, as my last hope was extinguished before my eyes. I closed my eyes and waited for any sound to tell me what would come next until the door in back of me squealed an opening sound and I had to turn and realize, one movie a room. I'm not going through this again. There was no way I would watch my whole life and all the crap I've gone through. I didn't want to, there was no need. I looked at the weird room I was in and imagined to sleep on. It was my mind, right? My thoughts should be able to let me do whatever I wanted.

Thankfully, I got a pillow and a blanket since the ground was as comfortable as ever. I stared up at the nothingness as just began to think inside myself and wonder what exactly is my game plan for when I wake up. Saving the world is an impossible dream, making it livable is somewhat better. The Justice League aren't completely saving the world, they're just trying their best to make everything better and managing the evil around us.

Managing, that's what we're all going to have to do soon enough. Enough of trying by getting justice, whatever happening to stopping the crimes before they happen. How would be able to achieve something like that without a huge sacrifice? Unless someone goes fully undercover and is able to move up the ranks in a way that makes it easy to stop the destruction they are causing. Maybe, just maybe, that person should be me.

It's a plausible solution, given that my acting skills are just wonderful and because of my problem I can easily switch personalities, which every villain does. Oh wow, look at me calling myself a villain already. Problem solved, I could do it. And maybe I could change my hair color to red. Man, I'd need to have Wally...

What am I doing? I really shouldn't be laying here, thinking about this. Maybe I should just go to the next door...

"Houston, we have a problem. Alex, what the hell is up with Batman?" She says after appearing next to me and I stare at her converses. I stare at her and she looks back with the same face and I'm just truly confused.

* * *

><p>"Well then, look who's back." Dinah said while drinking her Fanta and swirling the straw. Batman didn't even note the sound that came out of her mouth and kept walking through the room, ignoring the small talk that resulted "Where has he been". It was ridiculous. This place was like a child, no, that would bring shame upon children all over the world to compare them to this.<p>

"Manhunter. I need to speak with you." He said and Manhunter got up and both and left. Dinah clicked her tongue and looked like she wanted to let a scream out.

"Stop that. There's something really important he's going to ask Manhunter to do. Let things take their course and stop acting entitled, mmkay?" Green Arrow said, laying his head on the table and wishing nothing but to go back to the Manor and be with Roy, making sure he was okay. This experience really opened his eyes and just let him know how out of touch he was with his...son.

Dinah looked a bit taken aback by the tone he had used with him at that point. Green Arrow was just so...passive all the time, and especially since he was talking to her...What happened?

"Can you at least tell us how she is?" She said softly, and almost reached her hand out before bringing it back to her person, she needed to know more than anything right now.

"Unresponsive to everything. Flash checked on her yesterday and said that she's basically locked in there now. Batman is probably going to ask him to go in her head and speed up the process if he can. There's no telling whether she's even in there. Since her brain waves are very fast he should be able to get a lock and help her come back." He concluded, looking into Dinah's eyes with a ferocious intensity she'd never seen before.

"Thanks. They're both joining once she wakes up though, you know that, right? I'm actually a little proud of the little ones." She says, earning herself a few glares from some passerby.

"What the hell is up with that?" She whispered harshly, seeing that Arrow had the same look she did. He didn't say anything before leaning in a little closer to her.

"They don't like that a little kid is basically going to be on a higher rank then they are before she even starts. They think she's "privileged'" He says while, Dinah giggles a bit.

"You could swim in that irony. I'm looking forward to the yelling match Batman's facing when they come by." She says, and watches Batman and Manhunter leave, and she can tell he's accepted the challenge.

* * *

><p>"Thank you." Bruce says sudden;y, since they are both in civvies. John(Manhunter) raises an eyebrow, surprised that he would say that. It wasn't something to expect from a person like him. They made their way up the stairs and say Flash sleeping with his nephew in the chairs and Roy, laying with a pillow and blanket on the floor. Dick had slept in the room, holding his sister's hands for dear life.<p>

"Starting scan now." Manhunter said, putting his fingers to her temple. It was very quiet until he blew out a sharp gasp and stepped back.

"What? What happened?" Bruce said with a frown etched on his face. Manhunter had reverted back into his true self, his eyes illuminating the room just a bit more.

"It would seem her mind can't be accessed from the outside, someone would need to somewhat go in and speak to her, if she'll be freed." He said.

"Go in there...you're going to be in her mind?" Dick said from the doorway, Flash standing behind him, as if to say he tried to stop him from coming. Roy and wally moved past, not at all scared of the Martian.

"How long will it take and what do you need to see?" Roy asked preemptively, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

"It all depends on who goes and what needs to be done to get her back. I believe she will be able to acknowledge what is going on when she wakes up." He says and they all nod before looking at her serene face. An IV pumped calories into her body, trying to revive her. An oxygen machine pumped air into her lungs through a tube that ran down her throat and nostrils.

"Alright, go with Bruce. We already know what we'd find and it wouldn't help at all. Bruce...needs to know. You can even take Allen as moral support." Roy says while Bruce raises an eyebrow, when did the 11 year old decide he would take charge.

"I don't know, someone should take care of the kids...I'll call Diana and Dinah, they'll watch them." Allen said, walking out. Dick came up to Bruce and he made himself go to eye-level.

"I'm going to need you to be extremely careful with what you say and do. Alex is probably...volatile if she's not fully in control of herself. What you wanted to know...you'll find out there. I promise you that." Allen returned and Manhunter seemed to be preparing himself for what he was doing.

"This may feel a bit odd." Manhunter raised his hands, and three long beams of red light rammed into Bruce's, Allen's and Manhunter's head, while another light connected him to Alex. Then their consciousnesses left their bodies, leaving their bodies to fall to the floor.

* * *

><p>"This is not what I expected." Bruce said, staring at the dark room. Barry's mouth is agape, trying to peer into the darkness that seemed to be Alex's mind.<p>

Barry wandered around the dark room, trying to see if anything was there. Nothing, just...air.

"Allen, there's a door." Bruce said, gesturing to the thing that had appeared before him just seconds before. Barry looked at it and reached for the knob.

'No! Aren't you even thinking what's behind the door?" He said, and Allen just opened it.

"C'mon then, let's get going, you're burning sunlight..well, there's none of that." He said, going inside with Bruce and closing the door behind them. More darkness, but atleast there was a ton of light that spread across the wall and appeared to be a T.V screen. They stared at it, wondering what they were missing from all this until something showed up.

"Just like every time. It's hurts mamica, every time I get hurt. I hate this." Alex said and they stayed at how different it looked so...young. At least three years old, and they still could not understand the meanings of her words. Every child hated to be hurt but from how it looked, Mary was the one in pain. Then, someway, Alex was smiling again just after looking at her mother's face. It was so...unnatural, because it was Alex. Maybe their really was a problem and her mother was the only placebo effect.

"What now? All we've learned is that she has a bit of a problem and...that's it. We need to find another door and maybe we'll find Alex. Bruce... we will bring her back." Barry said, patting him on the back before repeating what they did before and look for a door...

That just happened to in front of them.

* * *

><p>"Batman what? I don't understand." I said and she looks like death, well, my kind of death. She's in all black, and a bit of blood is dripping out of her mouth.<p>

"It hurts, they've appeared in your mind, someone is in your mind...They're coming for you."She said, pointing a finger at me, and I look around a bit.

"Me? How should I know how they got here? Leave them be, there's nothing they could do...right?" I said with emphasis, still unsure of what difference they could make until-

"They could get me out! They could, couldn't they!" I grabbed her shoulders, almost wanting to shake her. Then, she looked away.

"You can't get out until you realize what is needed of you. They may be able to help you but until then I want to let you know something. I love You." One bloody tear was released from her and she disappeared like ashes. I didn't speak just started to move a bit closer to the door until I saw them. Bruce and Barry...in my mind. I wanted to run away but at the same time I was happy. They found some way to try and save me...how decent of them. I didn't know what exactly to say except for the fact that there was nothing I could say to them.

"Alright then, we should just go through the doors, find Alex, get her out, done. Alright, let's go." Uncle B said and they went through the door, where they would find a recent memory...

That day, with Wally when I almost hit that coma line.

* * *

><p>Alright, I feel this was a bit late, and next chapter's on Thursday. I wanted to thank you all again for reading my story. So...stay in school, do all your homework and stay away from those crowded lunchroom, umm...GO BULLDOGS, wait that probably isn't even the mascot.<p>

Oh whatever, I'll do what I want. DO you guys think Bruce should find Alex and make it all sad and tearful and shit or should I make her be stoic and hard, like she can't look at him but is all "Yeah, I've got a problem, what you gonna do?" Something like that. See you all soon.


	18. Bring Me To Life

SO...I finally figured out what I'm going to do for the story and I'm thinking you all will like it. Umm...Mailbag, blah blah blah.

Mailbag:

readingisdabest: You're welcome. I'm sending a message to you by PM so check it out, allright.

Liliana Rider: I glad you love it. I'll be sending the same message to you too, but if you don't like it, I've got many other ideas so...*GLOMPS YOU HARDER*

Keepmovingforward2: I think it is too. More to the point, there should be...to more chapters till the Justice League, I don't know. What do you think?

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><p>Oh no, this was really bad. What could he even be seeing right now, if it wasn't that. I stood in the entrance of the door, taking a moment to realize that I couldn't see anything through it. I decided then and there I would just have to observe, see what exactly will happen when he sees my past, the past I lived while living with him. I slipped in straying to go behind them and kept moving backwards to stay completely out of sight and the screen blurred to came to life showing me inside of the warehouse.<p>

"Oh, lord." I thought to myself, watching how I fought that guy with the katana. Oh, I looked so cool. Oh and look at all those beakers filled with corrosive acids that could kill anyone. And then I got the row of acids and stuff.

"Holy...And then she just gets up. What do you think, adrenaline?" Uncle B looked to his right where Bruce was and I hold my breath as he looks around. I'm sure he didn't see me but I can't say I didn't want him too.

"Maybe. Let's just go to the next room." They left through the oak door that ha appeared and I stepped after them, running quickly to the back to watch them until I realized what exactly was being projected on the screen.

_"Bye then, Ill be fine until October. Call the day before you put it in the mail." _I blew out a breath and knew I would start to hyperventilate. This was exactly what I didn't want to happen, but it would. They would know, they would know everything and I would be alone...I knew it. The screen went blank for a few seconds and came back to life. Wally was looking into my eyes and they were red, which was way more freaky than I thought it would be, I mean come on, bleeding tears, just demonic...cool. Wally had moved his hand to check my eyes and that was when I pulled back and the moment when everything went downhill for me. I had hit my head on the ground and started to scream and that sounded horrible too. I knew exactly what I was thinking at that time as well, and I fell to the ground unable to stand against the pressure I was feeling. I just wanted it to stop, keep them from seeing this. Things were blacking in and out and know I could almost take the time to hear what exactly was going on around me. Dick had ran away so fast to get my pills and Wally was just holding my hand. I could've sworn that he might've been praying and I saw Bruce clench his hands. God this was beginning to make me want to run away.

Dick had put the pills in my mouth and Bruce raised an eyebrow. It was becoming clearer and clearer for them now. I took a deep breath and kept watching with rapt attention. Until it happened...it just completely skipped over my explanation of the disease, just cut to next scene. It was just crazy.

_"There is no way you wouldn't want to-"_

_"Stop."_

_"let Bruce know what going on since-"_

_"Stop IT."_

_"he'll be taking care of you for as long as he can."_

"NO ONE WANTS A DAMAGED KID...OKAY." I yelled along with it, unable to control my feelings. They turned around and stared at me, not knowing how long I had been there. I just wanted it to stop and it wouldn't. The screen faded and Bruce was moving closer to me.

"Alex, you aren't damaged, no one is. Look at me...I wouldn't give you away, ever." He said and I stood up and stared at him, wanting to speak and knowing it would do me no good. I stepped away and crossed my arms.

"You're...lying. Every-everyone lies. And when I tell you...you won't understand." I said, and my voice was breaking. I felt so weak, I looked so weak. I was breathing so fast, I felt like I was dying. He didn't do anything, just gave me compassion.

"It's true, everyone lies. But I'm not doing that, I'd never do that to you. Alex, talk to me." He said, walking to me until all I saw was his face when he made sure we were eye to eye.

"I...I have a problem, I guess. It has a bit to do with my brain and...Hyperthymestic Disorder, possibly the worst case ever in the history of the world." I said, staring into his eyes. Uncle B may have gotten it already but this wasn't about that right now, this was about the fact that Bruce didn't understand.

"Could you explain what exactly that is to me Alex?" He said and I looked away. I wanted to know, seriously if I was ever going to cry because this would be a good time. However, that wasn't possible, my mind couldn't allow that. My eyes pierced him as I looked at him again and I exhaled shortly before speaking.

"Memory disease on overload. If I were to hurt my finger right now, my mind would process it and since all the lines are crossed, every memory of pain would be converted into actual pain to be felt. My brain would hemorrhage and my body may believe that the pain is real and actually hurt itself. I take pills that I kind of steal/take from either the med room in the cave or get from a friend who had Bipolar disorder. he's really ice and tells me all kinds of things about what's going on in Gotham right about now. He even knows where the Joker warehouses are, what's in them all that stuff, useful right?" I tried to laugh it off but it came out so wrong. Bruce didn't say anything, just stared at me.

"You aren't saying anything, you know. And it's not like that's it. I take it three times a day and I'm just so weird and I have to hide it from everyone and now you're going to just-"

He hugged me, Bruce actually gave me a real, serious hug. I wanted to say something that would make everything better but I couldn't. Bruce was just trying to convey the message "It doesn't matter" and I was receiving it loud and clear. I hugged him back, probably trying for a bit stronger than I'm used to. I looked and Uncle B who gave me a thumbs up sign and I smiled at him.

"I get that you wouldn't want to tell me something like that, i really can understand it, but you have to know I would never give you away, that just obscene." He said and I was completely liberated. The only thing in this world that I was scared of has completely dissipated.

"You should know that I can manipulate it so that I can't feel pain while under the influence of the drug. It doesn't impair me, it actually limits me. So I could be smarter than anyone but my health take a certain kind of priority, you know." I said and he nodded standing up.

"We need you to wake up..about now. It's probably been an hour, maybe so I'm thinking you're figuring this out." Bruce said and Uncle B cosigned per usual. I shook my head and laughed because they really didn't get their relationship in the eyes of others at all.

"Umm...MIND ME, GET OUT HERE WITH YOUR DEPRESSED SELF!" I screeched and those guys gave me one of those looks that just made me want to take a closer look. They were so damned in synch, it was almost adorable...except they were grown men and everything. She appeared finally, after like five minutes wearing bright like colors that completely screwed with the darkness around us.

"This is goodbye then. I'm not going to make you do something cruel, I just wanted...to be free. Alex, you wanted to be free. You wanted Dad to know what was going on...and know he does. Give it a minute and you should be able to get out. Oh yeah and if you come back here, I won't be as nice. You will certainly die." She said and I looked at Bruce and Uncle B who had just dissipated in front of my face.

But why was I still here?

* * *

><p>They had fallen on the floor, bringing themselves out of the world of Alex and into reality. Both Bruce and Barry had stared up and noticed that Dick and wally were still in the room. Roy must've been pried off of his seat to have gone willingly.<p>

"Is she okay? Did she tell you?" Dick said quietly, waiting for a response. Bruce got up and stared at Alex whose eyes had still been closed. He stared at her and watched at the heart rate monitor surged, going higher and falling slowly until it became normal and her eyes opened in expectancy of someone other than Bruce. She pulled all of the cords off and jumped into his arms speaking no words as she stared at Dick who she nodded at quickly to explain what had happened.

"Well, that's good. I was hoping it would happen soon." Wally said before yawning, A clear sign into why he was found asleep. She wanted to give him a hug and did, looking into his eyes and hugging him again.

"Roy isn't here but be sure to give him a hug next time you see him, alright?" Wally asked, laughing just a bit and trying to make a way for some decent light-hearted conversation. IT worked, most likely and there were hugs everywhere. Everyone just delighted to see-

"Alex!" Dinah and Diana chorused, picking her up like a little rag doll and squeezing her like there was no tomorrow.

"It's great to see you guys...even though I'm losing all my lung capacity." She said, moving away from them and sitting on the bed.

"Umm...how am I even moving right now, like...shouldn't I just be laying down for a while or taking it easy...I guess not." She said, lying back for a bit.

"Nah, you're good sis. we got a lot of stuff to do anyway." He says and I give him a look that says "huh" at it gets through easily.

"Basically,_avem nevoie de a păstra Servietă în mințile noastre _" He finished quickly like usual so no one would understand, again. There was no need for Bruce to have to care about the briefcase. This was my way of paying him back for what he's done for me. I could handle it, and when it was time I would tell him all about it. Especially so he isn't thrown for a loop and get me in real trouble. I was guessing that we should've have left, done something fun, I don't know.

* * *

><p>Two weeks passed quicker than I even thought, at first when I realized the first of the month. Bruce was gone the whole days and I had no idea what to do. Everything was totally different, and there was no changing it back. My parents were gone and the things we did every year had easily disappeared with them being...gone. Dick was crying, it was terrible, I tried to console him with a hug but that didn't help at all.<p>

"Talk to me. I what to know what you're feeling." I said, passing him a cup of hot chocolate and putting my feet on the couch. He sniffled and I stared at his face before wiping his tears. I looked at them for a moment, wondering what it felt like to feel tears stream down my face. From my experience with tears, they seemed pretty painful..except for the fact that it's blood, but that's a story for the past.

"I don't know what to do without them. Every birthday we would stay...together. I can't understand why it couldn't continue and it's just-"

"They were killed, taken from us. Every moment we keep that in our memory is keeping them alive. I think...I don't know, that mom would have wanted us to stay with Bruce if she had the choice. I just want... a piece of normalcy. What we're doing now, is exactly what I feel is the best way to make them proud." I said , and started to cough at what I was feeling at that moment. I reached into my pocket but stopped, knowing it would be of no use.

"I want to go back to that place...would you bring me? It's...6:00, we have enough time." He proposed and I nodded, leaving to change. I almost wanted to know why but it would have to be left for another time. This was something we had to do, or we would never be able to get through life without reflecting on that pain.

We left immediately, taking a bus that let us on because we were children and maybe because we were in Gotham. We got off by the stop closest to where we had been on that fateful day. Losing everything and gaining...something that couldn't be classified. Our lives had changed and I didn't want it to. I wanted to stay here, maybe leave and go to college at 13, something cool like that. It was supposed to be so easy, but everything just got destroyed. There was nothing I could have done, and that was the worst part. It was...inevitable that they would die that day and there was...nothing.

"Alright, we could just..." Dick sat at that place, where the tent had been placed those months ago. It was like a memory of everything. The laughs, smiles, all the things that we were able to do. They had all dissipated from our hands in mere moments, never to return.

"I can remember the smell of it all, how we felt that morning before... I was so happy, knowing I would finally be a true part of my parents lives. There was nothing better." I had no idea of what I should have said to him, what would have been correct as we sat together in silence, feeling the memories of the people we loved the most.

After an hour we both knew it was time to go and catch the bus. I almost didn't want to leave that place and I knew he didn't want to leave either.

" You want to take the car?" Bruce asked us from the road behind us and we turned to him slowly. It was very...quiet in the car, no one wanted to speak about anything at all. Bruce could sense it and since he had brain cells he knew to speak not a word. We just went into the house and before you knew it, Dick was latched onto Bruce, sniffling and crying and getting boogers on something that cost more than half of the things I had before I came here combined. It was possibly the worst birthday ever, just trying to put that out there. Here's a problem for you, how do you show you're sad when it's physically impossible to cry.

So I just join in on the hug before I know that Dick needs to talk to Bruce alone. I just leave, go upstairs and put on my depressing albums so atleast I can be comforted by the sounds of it all. I just don't know what to do. And especially with the plan that I'm-

"Alex! Come down here!" Of course I roll myself out of bed and figure myself downstairs to go ahead and see big white boxes. Bruce isn't as happy as I had originally thought he would be but I guess not, and that was nice." I didn't want to even touch it, but Dick started to so I followed.

'You said somewhere close to your birthday to get these back to you so..De nada." He said as we hugged him tightly on the waist and denied him any air at all. It was sort of fun, but it still couldn't erase the monumental effort it must've taken to get this. It was exactly like the picture I gave him. It was purple and black and wonderful. Like a black body suit withe purple wrapped around it and a bird stamped on the back. Robin's was less colorful than the drawing, which was good, he wouldn't be able to hide as well. It was more like Red and...maybe a bit of green in the lining of the pants. It also had black but enough color to showcase his strong spirit.

"Gracias. SO we can go..,with you,I mean. When, seriously?" I asked and he checked his watch for a while. He had that face that was all smug which was completely okay with me since he was Batman and everything.

"Hmm...Right about...now"

* * *

><p>(1)-we need to keep Briefcase in our minds<p>

So the next chapter has their first patrol but I'm thinking they get to introduce themselves to the Joker somehow,m just because that's cool. You know it's more like Alex will have to act completely different. Maybe confident but a little more emotional than her civilian self, who around Joker, wasn't emotional at all, a bit calm and when pushed to the edge, dangerous. It could help that she was close to death around him the first time but I don't know.


	19. Introduction

No more mailbag. Blah,blah,blah. I'm putting out a story...and reradingisdabest didn't reply to me about the story I wanted to write for her but I can wait for you. And um keepmovingforward, I'm going to send you your thing soon but I wasn't sure how long it would take to reach you.

"He's going to leave us here so we don't get hurt. How original." Dick said with a strong huff as we watched Batman descend on the unsuspecting henchman who worked with the Joker and take them out easily. I wanted to yawn but that might give away our position even more than it already has. We were bit more happy than we should be, and it could be said that it was for a reason.

"7."

"9" He replied as we got up, stretching our joints so we wouldn't get locked up so soon before sidestepping and roundhouse kicking the people behind us. Weak, how sad. Then we looked at the semicircle that had been formed around us.

"EH, I guess I'm always when betting against you." Dick said as we beat them all in under a minute. It was so...weird since I had my brother by my side, I wasn't worried about him but I also knew it would be a strong weakness, wanting to protect him.

"Is the Joker in there?" I asked politely and as he nodded I punched him hard to knock him out. I made sure all of them were still breathing before taking the grappling and shooting it off, as did Dick.

"Just like the circus?"

"Just like the circus, man." I said as we swung smiling to ourselves at the simplicity and how this was second nature to us before hitting the roof, which could have taken some practice since that high arc almost didn't give the needed momentum. Oh, what a science nerd I have become.

"Alright, Raven we need to get inside and see what exactly he's doing." He said to me and I nodded as we started to pull up the small window that was there. Thank God we were small or we'd be stuck for days. He checked it with a flashlight and we went down, hiding behind a large stack of...something. I know, I'm the one with the memory, shouldn't I know what it is...oh, wait this is crack. Ew, didn't someone say that was whack or something?

"It's not mine, I'm serious Bats. However, it seems you brought along some friends. The reinforcements that I had were taken down. This is going to be the best game ever, isn't it! Now, let's bring out the kiddies." Joker said, and I felt myself being picked up as did Dick. I didn't struggle and Dick followed my lead before I kicked backwards to kit the man's stomach and kept going until he let go. When he did, I gave him a drop kick so hard a loud crack resounded throughout the building. I stared at Dick who didn't do anything.

"Just knock him out, we don't have time for this."

"Nah, I think I like hanging around. Maybe he'll let me go before Batman comes for him." He said as he was released and said man ran away.

"Oh, he pissed himself. Let me just..." I put some paper down and took out a sharpie marker before writing next to it, WET FLOOR, SCARED OF BATMAN. I laughed a little before looking at Joker, who was smiling as well.

"Aw, they are just adorable, so come on, tell me your names."

"Raven, like the bird."

"Robin, same." He said and Joker raised a brow before looking at Batman, who was internally peeved at us coming to see what was going on.

"Oh Bats, lighten up, they just wanted to see Uncle J, play a little catchup. Who would have known you had kids. Who's your mother?" He asked, and I shook my head.

"Sorry, but I have no idea. I really couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. My name, age, birthday, favorite color. Seems to me, they should be all irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the fact that Batman needs to take you in...possibly now would be best." I said, and he smiled as if I was lying to him. I didn't need that type of weird.

"You are a bit more talkative that Bats here, and you did actually interrupt a conversation. However...I find you two to be very interesting.

"Same...but I'm not a fan of all your pretty colors...Frankly, I hate them." I said and Dick looked like he wanted to shut me up. They think I'm provoking him, but I'm actually doing the complete opposite.

"Really?"

"Really. Anyway, I'm not needed here. What about you Robin?"

"Eh, not really. Batman could take him. Let's go." HE said and Joker might have scoffed even though we left through the front door...and into a litany of cops led by Gordon.

"Who are you two?" He asked sternly and a sat on the hood of the cop car closest to him. Robin sat next to me and we just stared at the place.

"I'm Robin, that's Raven. We're Batman's partners, you'll be seeing us from time to time." He said and Gordon nodded slowly, trying not to let it all sink in.

"Yeah, okay. You guys trained enough to handle all of this."

"And more. Don't worry. We can handle it, you think I would come out here for nothing. No thanks." I said, adding a small sarcastic edge. Oh, we were going to be in the news for sure. I just stared...until the building blew up like a mini bomb. Looks like thew Joker had a back up plan. Robin kept his composure and I did the same while everyone else looked ready to pis their pants.

"Hmm...you think he got out in time?" I asked, and he nodded as I jumped off the car and started to step on the remains. Nothing, Batman wasn't there. It wasn't like I was going to take the time to pick up the stuff, and this really wasn't the best time.

"Hey, we got to go back. Batman says the Joker gone and we got other places to be than searching his tracks... the police should be able to handle that. Let's go." Robin said and even though the police were giving us that "Seriously" look and I felt like Robin didn't have to violate their whole life like that, but anyway, that's just the way things go these days. We got to the Cave in record time. It was like the weirdest thing, because i had suspected we wouldn't have anything to worry about.

"Everything good, you made sure the police would try to follow him?" He asked and Robin nodded. I sat in a chair and spinned in it just a little, thinking of what was next. As I expected, he wasn't going to bring to the bad places just yet, and anyway, we met the Joker. Probably unexpected, and he really must not have wanted us to be anywhere near the guy.

"What's next?" Robin said, watching Batman leave to change. He reentered as Bruce, looking all casual and weird. This was starting to make me bore me, yeah, it's great that we're doing this, but I want to do more.

"Well, tomorrow, you're meeting the Justice League, then we're hacking into some records. It'll get pretty normal soon enough." He said leaving us there before we could answer. I looked at that empty space than at Robin then..I don't know.

"We're meeting the Justice League. Like, THE, people to be. Oh, this is brilliant." I said and Robin gave me a small hug. I smiled just a bit before spinning in the chair with a little more force.

"Alright then, guess I won't have to beg for that. Anyway, let's just go to sleep and...sleep." Robin said, out of things to say. I just left without a word.

* * *

><p>"They're going to be eaten alive." Flash said, turning to face Batman. The other man didn't answer, just opened his laptop to look at files concerning the Joker.<p>

"They'll have to learn sooner or later." He replied, sending a few of his files to Gordon, who probably had no leads by now. He looked away from Flash completely and he didn't do anything in return.

"Yeah, but how do you think Rave will react to it."Flash said before sighing. Then, he shrugs off some invisible force before taking a look at everyone there. Who was more volatile, quiet, who would test their own patience and step to Batman?

"Anyway she wants. She won't be rude, she'll be nice about it." HE answered while Flash laughed and let it be known Batman's muscles tighten into that thing they call a smile, may it last even though no one saw it.

"Alright, they're probably sleeping by now, huh? I've got to check on the kid every day to make sure he's not mixing the wrong chemicals. I swear, the kids mumbling different theories while he sleep. Nitroglycerin and hydrogen bonds would create what effect to the body...I mean, it's killing me here." Flash said as batman kept typing.

"She hacked into the police force...of every state in the U.S., just looking for information on who that man with the briefcase is. She keeps it with her, all the time when she's at home, it's by her bed. She hasn't even opened it." He said and Flash patted him on the back. You can never stop a hacker when they start small. Soon, she'll be checking in on NASA periodically.

"What's the other one up too? Or is he keeping it hidden from the oh so powerful Bat?" Flash probed, earning himself a glare that he tried to laugh off but failed miserably.

"He's training like an animal, day and night. She's smarter, he's stronger. It could change over time, but things will stick to that script for a while." He said and continued to type, he had nothing more to add to this conversation.

"Well, that's almost stereotypical but you know, it is what it is." Flash said, getting up to leave and batman followed suit.

"Well then, see you tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Okay then, have I got a chapter for you on Thursday. When they come to the Watchtower(they don't know that) it's like this yelling match between Batman and somebody (could you give me that? Please and thank You. Love and Hearts and all that jazz.<p>

Umm...the story I was talking about above is call Night At The Manor and you'll see it on Thursday as you will with the other stories


	20. Implode

Alright, so I'm actually a day late for both stories, well SURPRISE. My Global, Geometry, Spanish, and Science teachers want to be funny and give Quizzes and tests tomorrow (well, Friday, and I'm studying Thursday which is today but it's 10:00 and I've only got 10 minutes to type so this is all I can do) Well nevermind about that, i've got more test coming by next week so eh. Here's the 20th chapter!

* * *

><p>Today was going to be the day, even though we were having just dreadful weather, I mean really, who the hell thought it could rain so hard while its sunny? Batman hasn't given any hints about what the place would be like, but I believe it will be marvelous. Oh, that type of language just ain't for me. Can't do it this time around. Everyone's going to think the person thinking isn't me, it's some unknown asshole they really don't care about.<p>

"Just...be normal. What happens will happen. I think they're expecting you so... zeta beam for three. Batman...Raven, and Robin." He said, calmly acting as if he wasn't aware of what he was going to face. Raven and robin had been in civvies, not feeling the cape mode as much. So now I'm in fully black getting zapped by a thing that's going to bring me to...HQ or was it Watchtower, that's what he's always talking about anyway when he thinks we're out of hearing distance. SO, he gave us the stay together and don't do anything stupid jab, and I threw it away easy. SO we arrive and we see no one, good start. Batman going to leave us to look around and stuff which is cool and stuff.

"Which way?" Dick said, taking my hand and leading me through the endless hallways and stuff. I didn't feel like walking, I felt like eating. I could already catch the scent of where there cafeteria was but do you think I'm going to walk into a place of strangers... Won't I get taken away, which would be sort of hilarious since I'm surrounded by what the world believes to be the goodness of us. We're all human, get the hell out of here.

"Rob, we're going into the lion's den for food. Don't speak, just...food." I said, opening the double doors with a flourish. So many people, just so many capes. people I noticed, some I didn't but all in all. I was hungry. Robin followed and with their silence, I was able to grab some pizza. I picked it up and walked away to leave. I wasn't going to sit there and eat in front of these scavengers, wanting to know everything and anything they could about me.

"Are you Batman's kids, the ones he's been training?" I think it's Green Lantern who said that, since he had the ring and stuff. Then, I was absolutely sure someone threw a knife at my face. Seriously, it whizzed by and my hair could've thinned like that. I dodged it efficiently and did a small status report for myself. Then, I took two batarangs out of my hair flipped onto a table and threw one of them in the direction the knife came from. Then I saw him, reading a newspaper sitting at that solitary table when I attacked. I jumped, possibly right in front of him and stamped the paper down before reaching the batarang to stay in front of his throat.

No face. It was like some type of material was covering him, making every distinguishable feature on him disappear. I was frightened, just taken by surprise at him before grabbed the fork and I snapped his plate up to block his site and made it hit him. At first I thought it would make the material come off of something but it just...re-formed. Like it made a depression and went back into place, comparable to a mattress.

"Che. Question answered." He said, and I pulled back slowly. I could've smirked, I wanted to. he had good character, to do this just because he wanted to know my skills. Robin just stood there, eating his pizza and I saw that he had side stepped beforehand. HE knew it was coming, the evil kid. I flipped off of the table and got my pizza to leave.

_BOOM_

"DO YOU NOT REALIZE THAT THEY ARE CHILDREN!" A screech came from there and I watched some of the other capes go into the room, nosy as hell. SO yeah I stood at the wall and watched some lady yell at Batman about how irresponsible he was being with us. And obviously, I'm going to get a chair and sit right in front of them while eating my pizza and Robing goes ahead and gets me a laptop. It doesn't take very long to do much around here until there's silence and everyone's watching me eat, including Batman.

Then the woman, who's been identified as Hawkwoman kneels and front of me and makes a small smile.

"I've heard a bit about you. Who'd you like to tell me your name?" She says and I just stare for a second before making up my mind. I could be silent like Batman, or make a statement, something, I really didn't want to do today, I was hungry. Everyone should be hungry.

"Raven, like the bird." I say and she nods but then she shakes her head which could have made me feel confused if I really cared.

"I've been told that you and your...brother are going to start patrolling in Gotham. In my own personal opinion, I don't think it's a good idea. You're just too young to be getting yourself into this. The world...it's like a monster and it will certainly eat you whole." She said, emphasizing in just the right ways and places. This lady...I liked her, but this wasn't the time for that admiration to show.

"Well then, you should know...I"M A MONSTER." Seething, I stared back at her, giving her the best glare I had which made her step back. What made things worse was when Robin came in with the laptop, looked at the scene and just sat there, not really giving attention to all the looks. Oh, he's learned so well in such little time. I don't know, it just makes me want to cough and cry and stuff.

"We're going to be here for a while. Just let it go and do something useful. It's not like we haven't been training all this time for nothing." Robin said, typing some new information he had seen from the HQ's information pool. Of course, I would make myself memorize everything, but that time would have to come a bit later.

"Dude, we've got to do some of these "Level 5 missions", they look so..." He let it drop and we fawned on the inside at how it sounded. Drug busts, other stuff...and the Shadows, what in the world were the Shadows.

"Sure, we'll just clear it with Batman first. Remember, we actually have other pressing matters and-"

"Fine. One thing, if you get vitally wounded, even once...You will stop this." Hawkwoman said and me and my brother stared at each other for a moment.

"No thanks. Pain comes with the job. Prepared for that hitch too. Sorry, don't waste your time. But...I can see now why batman gives you the missions he does. You've got character. Batman! Let's go home, told you I wanted to eat before hand. But nooo, you wanted us to come here." I said, leaving the room.

"The tension can't even be cut." Robin said and then Batman stepped into the empty hallway. We got home easy enough and the like.

"Batman, I want to open the briefcase." I said and they all took a double take at me. That was to be expected and I got the briefcase that I placed in my room back then. They sat there, stone-faced, as I started unlatching.

"You ready for anything, Bruce?" I asked and he nodded grimly. Then. I pulled it up.

"Holy Gallifrey." I said, pulling out the different papers and transcripts, all labeled with classified and a watermark that was branded Shadows. Bruce looked amazed and I scanned it all, realizing that they were having a meeting...tonight. So close, yet so far away from us. Unless...

"Batman, put someone in there. This will be our only chance to get completely immersed, if done correctly. Find your best actor in the Justice League and...what?" I said, turning my head sideways at his face. He looked ready to burst out of the seams with laughter, as if something I said was a problem.

"You aren't proposing to do it yourself, how come?" He said and I sat in my chair giving him a disapproving stare.

"You think you'd let me do that. Not a chance. I'd rather let the JL screw it up to no end and laugh at your face when you realize you should have let me do it." I say, when he passes me the briefcase and nods.

"One week. You get one week with the briefcase and that's it. I won't say anything about it, at all. If you can get in, which won't happen, we'll see. Afterwards, it goes up as a mission." HE said, but he was lying through his teeth.

'Oh, come on. It'll take me a week to plan it all out...Maybe I can do it." I said, walking away and shaking the briefcase. Oh, the woes of white lies. how wonderful that I have the plan out already. I went into the recesses of my closet and got out the red dye I'd made that was in spray format and it's special solvent that only interacted with the different elements I put in it.

"Time to do this up for real." i said, spraying it completely as it sunk in to the roots minimally to look completely real and put on some black clothes, to look juts a little bit less than I am. To easy to just climb out the window and leave with the few things I needed and find the Joker, who was in another warehouse. SO yes, I chose a house close by, probably a few feet and doused it with gasoline, as much as two gallons I brought could cover in the correct positions. My calculations were always sound so when it came to things like this. I got my match, struck it, and threw it in the air, knowing it wouldn't go out.

So I sat down, knowing I wouldn't get hurt, and watched the world implode.

* * *

><p>Alright, so long overdue but I was getting test after test after essay after test, so the only days I can type are weekends and days when there is no school...like today. So, I have been barred from the computer except for weekends for "complete dedication to your school work" shit like that. I've got it all under control school-wise and I've just got to get this fanfiction thing down. the story for Liliana is going out possibly a few minutes after I put this up and the story for readingisdabest is going up on Saturday. keepmovingforward, I remembered how your mobile acts up a bit so I'll just tell you my prompt now.<p>

I wanted your story to be a vacation type story, maybe they go to an island or something with the JL. It could even be like Flight 29 down stuff and their plane goes down on an island that limits meta and aliens to a definite low. If you don't like it, I'll think of something else or you could give me one of your ideas.

Adios, I'm taking spanish 1 as well.

HASTA PRONTO. DON'T BLINK

Yeah, I know that wasn't spanish but it had a reason, Doctor Who, no one understands.


	21. Aftermath

So, new username, new life. Faster everything and I'm proud to hate my English class. Presentation after presentation after bullshit. How annoying, can't even get a decent criticism from a teacher. Wrote the darkest poem in about a month and no praise, ugh. I guess that just how teachers like to be about these things. they like to act as stupid as ever. Well then, new chapter.

* * *

><p>It was so quiet afterwards, as if the world really did end. I waited, clutching the briefcase with all I had, knowing what could occur. Creaks were happening above me and I put my head down, feeling the draft that had been set upon me.<p>

"Now look what we have here." He peered down at me and I fought the urge to keep my head down. He was maniacal and borderline insane by the looks of him. He hair lay flat, matted on the nape of his neck as he kept his smile intact.

"I won't give it to you, it's mine!" I said, holding the briefcase even tighter. He cocked his head to the side before lifting me up and heaving me over his back. I kicked, not wanting to release the box, not under any circumstances. he was now walking on hard gravel, normally associated with the docks. I was brought into a warehouse, dimly lit but enough to see everyone there. From where I was, only four people could be seen.

"Boss, she was under the wreckage holding this-"

"Let go!" I kicked his cheek hard, letting both of us fall as I tried to right myself. He growled and came at me, becoming more bull-like than person. I laid back and lifted my right leg,letting him trip over it.

Applause.

A single unadulterated clap resounded through the small place as he was knocked unconscious. I couldn't help but pale at the site of the source of the sound. It was the Joker, and his stained personage. I swallowed some air and inched myself up, trying to appear strong in front of him. Ans unexpected shudder ran through me, what next?

"She's the one. They've always been looking for someone strong to lead. One who could get away with many things. You just might cut it. Now...give me the case."

"Never. you'd kill me on site. I'm not part of the Shadows, this information isn't mine to know."I said, inching back. 13 steps to the door. Half of his guarding staff had left because of what happened earlier. Escape depended on-

"Ah, that just makes you an even better candidate. I had hoped for someone to play with..well, take her to him." Joker said and another person picked me up. This time I didn't argue, just stuck my tongue out at Joker and huffed(the big bad wolf am I). I wanted to grab something heavy and break it on Joker's head. We walked and walked, the air seemed to turn a bit smoky, possibly tobacco ash and a bit of something else. After a brief period of time, we had arrived at our destination, a small house. The man set me down and departed, obviously frightened by the contents of the house. I didn't knock, just went inside and immediately wanted out. Aidan was there, and Rupert Thorne,his employer who was a pudgy type of man, possibly spy. They were talking with a man who had a mask on, blond hair, fit, not to be messed with. That's all I was getting from there.

First impressions mean everything, I took a deep breath and walked up to the man with the mask. Then, without hesitation, slammed the briefcase into the table in front of him, creating a long crack in the middle.

Unpreturbed, he looked up. "And you are?" I stood, penetrating his gaze, trying to see what he may have felt. All I could see was the features he wanted me to see. Complacent and worry free, that's who he was. He didn't care about anything.

"Not important. I'm just returning something stolen, is all." I said, letting a bit of that British accent I was practicing seep through. Of course, if I didn't change my voice a little that would be able to tell the three facets of me as one and the same. He leaned back while opening the briefcase. Letting out a low whistle, he fanned himself with the papers inside for everyone to see.

Aidan grabbed the front of my shirt and slammed me into the wall, lifting me enough to cut off some of my circulation. I fought to breathe, my heart hammering for escape. I pulled in and kicked upwards, the toe of my shoe able to connect with his chin. He choked and released me as I hit ground, trying to regain the air lost. I didn't waste a second, round-housing him to knock him out. Moving my hair back from my face, I stared at the masked man.

"Sportsmater...you'll be named X, got a problem. No? Good. You start tomorrow." He said, taking out a different briefcase and throwing it at me. I caught it and stared at him, giving him the same look he did before.

I could've sworn he was fighting a grin. "You'll have to get on the plane your own way. Getting into this organization means you can't trust anyone but the ones above you. That happens to be me. And...initiation starts...now." Alright, so he left and now I would have to hi-jack a stupid plane just to get in. AW, I could start to love this type of modern warfare.

* * *

><p>"Done." I gave the briefcase to Flash the next time we came to HQ, which was the next day.<p>

"So...you met Sportsmaster. What do you think?"

"I think he likes me, and at the same time he expects me to die any minute now. I've got a plan and I'm leaving tonight. Even though I didn't tell you that, huh?" Batman gives me that look, the slightly raised eyebrows and the stoic figure just suggests that he hates the idea more than everyone else could've possibly imagined.

"Hmm... how about this? If she can get to the plane and you don't catch her, then she's gone. You catch her, she goes back and Sportsmaster has to blow up the first building she walks into. Seems fair and you'll live either way." Rob pats my back for a sign of support and goes back to the laptop, making his patrol sequence. Moderate crime sprees was what he was looking for, something Batman wouldn't say no to.

"Cool. That's probably going to be the hardest thing ever, but finding the Cave was easy. See you then."

* * *

><p>I know, I know. Where's the long chapter that usually comes when you're gone for a week? Well, I realized something that a lot of others are doing. they do like 1,000 worded chapters and then put one up every day, so that you have something to read each day and I thought, who cares about the amount of chapters, you just want something good to read. Alright, every day at appoximatly 6:00, which is after I get home from school(the bus is always coming late,such a turd mobile). I'll just put that thing up for you and...yeah. Lilliana, your story is up, if you haven't seen. I didn't continue because I wasn't sure what you thought of it. Just send me something to let me know.<p>

Damn, long ass A/N. umm, reading is the best, you story is know condensed into this really cool three shot(I thank my best friend for editing) and I'll put it up on Tuesday. She said, make sure it not like any other story on the database or some craziness so I doubt she was even awake fully when she said it(it was almost 2 in the morning). Lastly,Keepmovingforward, you haven't said anything concrete about the story idea yet?


	22. Take Me Away

My boots squelched in the narrow hole I had put myself in, letting myself know just what I was looking through, well walking through. It was damp and had no smell, which was a bonus for me.

"Alright, If I'm going to try this, I'll do it correctly." Sure, I was talking to myself, but I really didn't want to feel like I was completely alone. One of my worst fears, being alone. This was for sure setting the scene for it. I was moving slowly through the underground, in the water system. This part of the system had been shut down for construction and it was close enough to the airport that I wouldn't have to run into Batman.

I made so many plans, leaving the smallest hints of them laying around so he'd pick up on that and leave the true one alone. I kept moving until I saw a little bit of light shining through and if the maps were correct, I was across the street from the airport. There was a step ladder under it and I climbed it before pushing up the pothole and putting it back into place. I was never here, which is just the way a Shadow should be. I walked slowly across the street to step into the airport, letting the cold air hit me in the face and change the atmosphere I had been in for the past hour.

The only cargo plane heading to New Zealand was the 10th cargo bay structure. Where would that even be?  
>I saw a woman, blonde, perky, possibly nice all around. I stepped to her and tapped her hand mildly.<p>

"Now, what can I do for you, sweetie?" She put on a winning smile and I could see her boss in her vision.

"My daddy can't figure out where the 1oth cargo bay is because that's where our stuff is. He's in the bathroom right now and I thought I'd just tell him when he gets out." I moved on my heels just a little and she ruffled my hair.

Killing is wrong."Well, just make two rights and you'll find it." I smiled back at her and gave her a consolation hug before walking away and giving her a goodbye wave. Oh, how she escaped death so easily, that woman. I made a run for it then, realizing I gave her too much time. I barely got into the small doors, rolling under the chains and getting inside the plane. Sure, it was full of boxes but remember the other options.

"Plane takeoff in 2 minutes." I pulled out the things I needed done before I got there; makeup, hair spray, clothes, knives and the briefcase. I started getting to work on the hair, making it full read and changed my clothes. Tank top, converses, black pants and a watch.

"Woah!" The plane jerked forward, pulling me out of my slumber that I went into halfway to my location.

"Location, New Zealand. Thank you for riding G-Air." The pilot said cheerfully, and I climbed out, staying out of sight from the overhead lights, either helping the planes land or looking for stragglers.

New Zealand was beautiful, even in the night, more calm and peaceful then the yelling in Gotham. I walked around the different avenues until finally finding that huge building that was having the meeting. It wasn't surreal, just time to be completely serious with everything I did.

"Nice...elevator, press four." I read off the instruction sheet included in the briefcase and listened to the aggravating music in it. If it gets stuck in my head, I'd kill somebody. When it was over, I got off in real haste.

"Fresh Blood."

"Easy Kill." I said to my man in front of me, holding my freshly made knife to his throat, tilting it slowly and turning...

"Wait! I've got somewhere to be." I shot out a foot to his gut and opened the first door I saw, guarded by a few men with guns.

God, this place was full of intimidation. I just sat in a chair, keeping away from anyone who could kill me...which was everyone.

"Welcome. It would seem we have a young one, someone unexpected. Name yourself." Ras said to me, and If looks could kill...

"Just X." I wrung my hands in little circles while looking into his dark eyes. Mumbles go through the others seated and I fight the urge to stick my tongue out.

"They say you're from Gotham. DO you know who you'd be facing in Gotham?" He asked. I kicked at the ground, unsettled by all their eyes.

"Batman." I said, looking down. I was creeped, okay? They were all so huge and I was small.

"Oy! The boss is talking to you." A man appeared out of thin air and grabbed my chin, tightly.

"Get off!" I pushed back, taking his hands and bring the chair down with off before headbutting him and kicking him in the face twice.

'Well," I brushed off my shoulders. "Where you saying something?Oh yeah, Batman. I'm a kid, right? Small and wiry and stuff, just like the rest. So let's say I blow up a building and the Great Batman comes in to salvage and save, and appears before me, a kid. I'm ready to fight...but is Batman?' I ask, putting everyone into deep thought.

R'as seemed more delighted than everyone else. I came to the conclusion that seeing R'as didn't happen a lot and that I may never see him again. You had to be in the highest bracket and I was out of my element.

"Great. Good, everyone's settled. X, you're staying with...Sportsmaster for the week, which is the amount of time his will take. See you all tomorrow."He concluded and I hid my surprise partly before stiffly getting up and leaving, alone to be caught by-

"Let's go." He said, the mask still on his face as he took my arm and dragged me out of the building into a car before taking off his mask and trading for some glasses.

"Here," He threw a jacket at my face while the car swerved. "You can't go anywhere looking like that." he said pointedly and I huffed before putting it on. It was all warm and weird, no one ever just gave me their jacket.

"You're still going to die though, since you made a big mistake...You came with me." He said, smirking before making a sharp turn in from of some hotel that wasn't in my mind at the moment. He opened that door for me and yes, I stepped out with all my stuff and followed him. I felt somewhat assured that he might not kill me but I knew I would have to get in touch with Bruce somehow.

"In here." He was dragging me along while I was blanking out, getting me to a room in record time. It was nice too, adjoining rooms so I wouldn't have to look at him the whole time I stayed here, awesome.

I basically spent my time working on papers for plans in Gotham. He came in many times to look over my shoulder and I didn't mind at all, happy that he might gain a good view on me and leave me alone. Of course he didn't, eating toast (middle of the night, like what are you) and getting crumbs in my hair which I have learned to hate. Once it hit 10:00 and he went to sleep, which meant he was leaving early in the morning to do something, I left the room with the same jacket, taking the key card and leaving the hotel to find a nearby pay phone that took international calls.

Who would've thought that I could find a pay phone like that in the land of sheep?

"Hey, I'm here." I said, moving the phone to my right ear because it was so cold. I could have sworn I heard rustling, stupid connection.

"How long?" He said, quickly and I almost jumped at the sound of his voice.

"A week, tops. X marks the spot, I guess. Oh yeah, I'm-" I couldn't breathe at all,the air was leaving me so quickly. I wanted to make a sound, let Batman know I was in trouble, get him to save me. Who was this? i could hear him, just a bit as I fought to keep my eyes open, fought the black spots. I wanted to cling onto that, but I couldn't.

"X... Hello, Alright, what's going on?"

"Goodbye." He clicked the phone, taking her away.

* * *

><p>Don't ask me a thing. The POV going to change for the next chapter, seems Alex is going away for a while.<p>

Spoilers, as River would say. And, I would like it if anyone could explain to me the second season of Young Justice. H.W knows how to keep me away.

Please and Thank You.


	23. Home

Alright, so I think I might have lied about the POV thing, but I'm absolutely sure that this chapter is really good, mostly because I stopped writing in first person and got that description thing on lock, I mean, you have no idea.

Mythology Test was a breeze, like I swear, Poseidon and his rain couldn't have ruined my day. And...the clouds above my neighborhood appeared to be red, like fire against the charming blue sky. It was beautiful.

* * *

><p>"Can you hear this?" Batman said, replaying the phone call from Alex a day before. There was no sound just Batman asking for her. After analysis, you could hear the grunts for either Alex or the attacker and a short but plain yell that was like a wet cough with pain interlaced.<p>

They were silent as separate, definitive whacks came from the center of the rooms, sharp and concise, and anger to be unleashed.

"We should go and get her." Robin said, punching the wooden block with more ferocity. This was his sister, his flesh and blood, what he really, truly had to live for. There was nothing else, just her. What couldn't you do then, for the only remembrance of your mother?

"We can't. They'd know automatically. Maybe we should hope that she got away and she'll contact us. Give her...one day." Flash said, holding the block so it wouldn't fall.

"The jet's ready."

* * *

><p>"The child is acquired!" The robust machine droned, waking the man from his slumber. After wiping his eyes lazily and checking the clock he rolled over and grabbed his bag.<p>

Time to go to work.

It usually just came to him, the prey. It was always unable to move, stuck in one position with a face. One of contempt and pain, bearing the streaks of brutality and sadness that he lived of off. The Breaker, that's what he was called. The Breaker of souls, the one to call to make the devil cry. God saved you if you realized you escaped his clutches..of course, that would mean you've never heard of the Shadows.

It was a litany of tools laid out side-by-side. He meticulously checked each instrument, looking at them in the light, watching the bright light cascade over the chrome delight before facing the next on the list, the next to be broken.

It was a surprise, something unexpected, a child. It seems the machine was being literal this time. Usually, the announcer would use any characteristic it felt like to tell of the next prey.

She was thin but fit, trained to the bone. Quiet, not understanding where exactly she was but not daring to see it either. Her red hair draped across her face and fell by her waist, even more if looked at closely. Maybe it should be cut off, he thought on a whim and continued to think. She was looking down, and was handcuffed to the wall, her wrists above and her legs apart. It would have been a sad sight for any humanitarian when he was done with her.

Number...35, yes, that would be the one for her, his special tool, his sharpest scalpel. He approached her slowly, taking the time to measure his own gait before taking her chin with two of his fingers and lifting her head up.

Red, fully red eyes. They could have been contacts, or if he had been religious, the work of the devil. She just stared, unblinking at him, and he couldn't blink, couldn't lose the sight of her as he held the knife to her collarbone and skimmed the knife over it slowly, watching her closely, looking for weakness as he gave the first slash. The first slash allowed him to look into the soul, understand the person more.

Nothing at all. Just staring at him before he had to blink and she smirked. She deserved those red eyes.

"Let me tell you something I heard." She said after the smirk, licking her lips as if they were drier than the Sahara. She had a London accent, it could have been faked but the child had impeccable taste to duplicate it with such elegance. if the Shadows had any real sense, they would have conditioned her fully and fashioned her into the best weapon around.

"When you attempt to get into the Shadows because you have nothing and don't want anything, you will prepare for everything. My friend, you were always..."

She put her hands- how did she unlock herself!- on my face and struck me in the forehead with her own. Before I knew, as the blood dripped from her to the ground, as they became small pools banding together, I watched. Unable to move because she had also chopped me fiercely in the neck, I watched her get free and crouch to my face which a smile and started to pet my hair.

"You were in my calculations. This is the League of Shadows, of course I expected an initiation. Now- she licked a finger and put a strand behind my ear- be safe, we're in a recession."

That was the day when i decided that I would follow a person like that, evil but neutral. She wouldn't have killed me even though in her eyes, she detested me. Was it wrong that I wanted to hope that maybe she would stay this way forever? A scary figure with morals, sophistication that may be ushered into this League.

I would continue to hurt, maim and kill, but if she needed a favor...she knew where to reach me.

* * *

><p>He kept looking at the phone that Alex had left under her pillow, the untraceable one. He stared at it for an hour, Flash bringing food by and Dick coming to sit momentarily before leaving.<p>

Two rings, that's all ti took before he pressed that green button and heard her voice, well the accent she had put on it. It was like a new type of melancholy, one that shouldn't be evaded.

"Hello." She must have smiled, that's just the way it felt as everyone in the house stayed by that kitchen counter, hanging on every word.

"Don't speak just yet. I'm cool, no worries. Just remember, I'll be back. Have I missed anything in Gotham?" After a collective breath was taken by everyone on both sides of the phone, someone had to speak.

"It's all good. Don't get killed." Dick said, eliciting a small laugh from Alex. The sound of it, it's reassurance to Bruce made his whole world.

"Sorry. I'm absolutely sure I won't be killed. Thing is, I'm going to start a riot. I'll be home in...5 days. Give my love." She said, before disconnecting .

A pregnant pause grew in the room and Flash was shut down. It was heart-breaking to them now, not being able to watch over their little girl. Make sure she was okay, but this was the work that she wanted to do and they tried their best to keep her away from it.

"I told you so." Flash said, a bit breathless but nonetheless prayerful of her safety.

"And being worried saves lives. Even." Dick said and Flash clapped him on the back before laying back in a chair.

She was fine, that girl with the master plan, always looking to do something new was fine... but for how long?

* * *

><p>She slammed the door behind her, the glass shuddering in contempt as it contacted the wall before swinging back into place. She had the anger of a demon and the expression of an angel. Taking her seat, she watched as they surveyed her, wondering why she was still even alive.<p>

She pointed her finger to her open mouth and coughed. " I thought I'd be able to look at you guys but, alas, It's too much."

"Ah, the Cold logic of a child. How refreshing." R'as said, kneeling before her. He pressed his finger into her coolarbon-_just enough-_ to make her hiss in suppressed pain. "I'm going home. Send me something when you get yourselves together."

She slammed the door again, getting satisfaction from the glass shuddering and falling. Then, and only then, she hitched a ride to get home.

* * *

><p><em>bambambambam<em>

"Coming!" Dick said, moving through the house to open the door-

And pull in his sister, slamming the door behind her.

"Look at you. _Your hair_." He made a small gasp, grabbing a fistful of the redness and she stared open mouthed, sarcastically. "_I know._"

"I missed you." She put her hands through his knotty hair. "Oh, I need to brush this out." She shook him and they hugged again.

"Okay, where's Bruce?" Alex looked around, expecting him to come out of thin air.

"He's sleeping."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I know."

* * *

><p>"Bruce<em>..."<em>

"_What?"_

"Batman!"

The Dark Knight's eyes snapped open. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying on his back. The second thing he noticed was the two pairs of bright blue eyes above him, peering at him.

Wait, two pairs?

"Hey, Bruce." She gave him a hug, inhaling his smell as he put his arms around her. "I sort of came back early." She said, pulling away and, moving her- _red - _hair away from him. "I know, don't get crazy. I'll wash it out.

He stared until something else caught his eye. "You're cut." She winced under his stare, and after a small face-off, sighed in defeat. "Dick, get a kit. Tell me everything." He said in his Batman tone.

She crossed her arms and huffed. "Sportsmaster wanted me dead, I got away. The guy who did this owes me one, because he's not dead. I don't know, those people are weird. She stepped of the bed and sat on the dresser.

Bruce got up as well, and got some clothes out of the dresser. "Just be careful.." HE walked out of the room, Alex following suit.

"And," He turned mid-step on the stairs. "Do something with your hair. Unacceptable." Alex snickered and jumped on his back, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Yes sir, Black will be back."

"Alex, do it now." Dick said form the top of the stairs.

"Alright, don't patronize me. See you all around."

* * *

><p>Alright, so I'm thinking we'll kick it back to the Watchetower and have Roy meet up with everyone and stop losing all his character glory I could place for him.<p>

New request, can someone tell me what up with Roy boy nowadays? My little brother telling me something about Vortexx and is all Justice! Weirdo.

I been holding up one of my stories and I have two sitting in my Doc Manager, waiting to be formatted. The one already out is Night At The Manor. Second chapter is out while you're reading this. Believe me and Flight 29 Down should be formatted by... I don't know. If I pass my next Geometry quiz(I know what you're thinking, why's a freshman taking that?) it's all possible.

GO JUDGES(Okay, so it wasn't Bulldogs, sue my whole life)


	24. Authors Note

**Honestly, I've been away from this story for so long that it literally scares me to want to try to get back into it. I'm pretty sure that most of the people who used to follow this story have moved on to other things but if any still wants me to continue it. Ill actually be revising the story while putting out new chapters if I ultimately decide that I want to take it in that direction. Anyways, If everything goes to plan, the new chapters with revisions to old chapters will start up in the beginning of August.**

**Thank You**


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